High variability in spawning migration of sea trout,Salmo trutta,in two northern Swedish rivers

Abstract Telemetry was used to examine spawning migration of sea trout, Salmo trutta L. (n = 126), in two rivers in northern Sweden. The spawning areas defined by radio‐tagged fish differed between the river systems. In the River Vindelälven, sea trout spawned in the main stem and 80% of tagged individuals returned to areas where hatchery‐reared juveniles had been previously stocked. In the River Piteälven, 74% of tagged sea trout ascended tributaries for spawning. Tagged fish were categorised into three groups of migratory pattern. cart (classification and regression tree) analysis indicated that distance from tagging location to spawning site (S_dist) explained the migratory patterns. Large S_dist separated fish with stepwise upstream migration from those with up‐ and downstream migrations and one‐directional direct migration. Fish tagged early in the season migrated the longest distance to spawning areas. Stocking locations and sex explained the large search behaviour up‐ and downstream in the rivers. The findings are important for the sustainable management of sea trout in the Gulf of Bothnia.     

犬造血干细胞移植的作用机制及应用研究进展

造血干细胞(hematopoietic stem cell, HSC)位于造血系统的顶端, 是造血系统中唯一具有多能性和自我更新能力的细胞, 可以分化为各种功能的血细胞, 维持血液系统的建立和动态平衡, 是目前研究最为透彻、临床应用最为成熟的成体干细胞。造血干细胞的这些重要特性, 使得基于造血干细胞在治病机制研究和临床应用中的研究取得了很大进展。以造血干细胞为基础的再生医学治疗是目前治疗恶性血液病和遗传病的首选方法, 如造血干细胞治疗犬白细胞黏附缺陷综合征、犬遗传性贫血、犬淋巴瘤、犬白细胞减少症、犬X连锁严重联合免疫缺陷病等, 但由于白细胞抗原匹配的供体稀缺、可获得的造血干细胞数量有限等原因, 无法满足临床需求, 因此, 如何通过体外培养获得满足临床需要的造血干细胞成为近年来学者们研究的热点问题。作者参照现有研究成果对造血干细胞的来源和体外分离培养、治病机制进行系统的描述, 并对造血干细胞移植治疗遗传性溶血性贫血、白细胞黏附缺陷综合征、淋巴瘤、白细胞减少症、X连锁严重联合免疫缺陷病的临床研究进行综述, 以期为今后将造血干细胞广泛应用于临床治疗提供参考依据。     

密林熊蜂出归巢的初步观察

采用野外试验和观察的方法,进行产卵前、后熊蜂王、工蜂出房后但未成大群的蜂王和工蜂以及成群后蜂王、工蜂出归巢情况的研究。发现:产卵前蜂王40%蜂王不出巢,60%出巢但不归巢;产卵后的蜂王20%能归巢,80%不出巢;工蜂出房后但未成大群的蜂王和成群的蜂王不出巢,工蜂出归巢状况良好,熊蜂野外过夜现象普遍。     

Genetic structure of the migratory catfish Pseudoplatystoma corruscans (Siluriformes: Pimelodidae) suggests homing behaviour

Abstract –  Pseudoplatystoma corruscans is distributed widely in the La Plata Basin in Brazil, where it is a very important species because of its high commercial value and ecological role as a voracious predator. This species undertakes long migrations during the dry and rainy seasons to feed and reproduce, respectively. In this study, we analysed seven microsatellite loci to test the hypotheses of the existence of a single panmictic population of P. corruscans in the La Plata Basin. All microsatellites analysed were highly polymorphic with the number of alleles per locus ranging from seven (Pcor28) to 30 (Pcor10). Across all samples, 107 alleles were detected. Thirty alleles were private, i.e., found in only one sample. Highly significant genetic differentiation was observed among samples in three of the four analyses performed: F _ST (from 0.03435 to 0.16349, P  < 0.05), Analysis of molecular variance (amova) F _ST = 8.25% ( P  < 0.0001) and amova R _ST = 9.72% ( P  < 0.0001). A microsatellite multilocus Bayesian assignment test with the programme structure confirmed the division of the fishes into six groups largely concurrent with main branches on a population neighbour-joining tree. The obtained results rejected the panmixia hypothesis. On the other hand, the documented long-distance movements of P. corruscans and the geographical scale of genetic differentiation found in this study indicate a strong tendency for fish of this species to utilise their natal nursery regions for reproduction, which represents the first demonstrated example of homing in a freshwater catfish in South America.     

Anadromy and homing: two life‐history traits with adaptive synergies in salmonid fishes?

Anadromy and homing are two traits found widely amongst teleost fishes. They co-occur in salmonid fishes, and probably also in other fish families. Anadromy provides fish with the opportunity for more rapid growth, larger size, and higher fecundity through the exploitation of rich food resources and favourable growing temperatures in the sea, but may result in higher predation mortalities and has the tendency to disperse stocks very widely. Homing fosters adaptation of stocks to favourable local spawning conditions, but the dispersive effects of anadromy, in the absence of homing, may tend to break down such local adaptation. A low percentage of straying in species that home may have long-term evolutionary advantages. This paper explores the question of whether homing may be a preadaptation for successful evolution of anadromy, or whether the two attributes have coevolved.     

Patterns of movement of adult northern pike (Esox lucius L.) in a regulated river

Abstract –  We performed a tagging study on one of the spawning populations of northern pike ( Esox lucius L.) of the River Kajaaninjoki in Finland. Northern pike is the main predator in many lakes and rivers in the northern hemisphere. Previous tagging studies have shown a general tendency to sedentary behaviour by pike. Whether individuals in a fish population adapt a sedentary or moving strategy may affect population persistence. To study if the spawning population consists of sedentary or moving individuals and the pattern of movements, we tagged 40 pike with radio transmitters and followed them from May 2002 to June 2003. Pike were caught and tagged during the spawning season in the mouth of the River Kajaaninjoki which flows into one of the largest lakes in Finland, Lake Oulujärvi. Our results suggest that the pike spawning population consisted of sedentary pike ( N  = 16) dwelling the whole year in the river, and moving pike ( N  = 24) which moved to Lake Oulujärvi after the spawning period. Pike exhibited homing behaviour, as most of the migrating pike returned to the same spawning area in the following year. Large pike had a higher movement rate than small pike during the summer and seasonally the movement rate was lowest during the spring and highest during the summer.     

Evidence of homing of black rockfish Sebastes inermis using biotelemetry

ABSTRACT: The black rockfish Sebastes inermis is one of the most important fishery species along the coast from southern Hokkaido to Kyushu, Japan and is often found in rocks and Zostera areas. We conducted biotelemetry using coded ultrasonic transmitters to clarify the movement of the black rockfish that inhabited the seawall of the Kansai International Airport. We released 25 black rockfish at two points. One was the airport seawall and the other was side shallows off the Sensyu district. Seventeen black rockfish returned to their capture site after release. We used the V -test to determine whether the direction of movement was random or orientated. The black rockfish moved at random along the seawall within some hours after release ( P  > 0.05). Four hours after release, they moved to their home site intentionally ( P  < 0.0025).     

Agricultural practices alter sex ratios in a reptile with environmental sex determination

Anthropogenic changes to the environment have the opportunity to impact natural systems, particularly in organisms that exhibit phenotypic plasticity. Species with environmental sex determination (ESD) are uniquely susceptible to changes in the stimuli that affect sexual development, potentially leading to maladaptive sex ratios. We studied the factors affecting sex determination and sex ratios in the common snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentina, in an area heavily impacted by agricultural practices. We investigated the effects of soybean, corn, and sunflower planting on incubation temperatures, sex ratios, and depredation in naturally laid nests. We also identified and analyzed a novel mitochondrial microsatellite in order to examine the presence of natal homing and determine the likelihood that nest sites impacted by agricultural practices could be transmitted across generations. Females frequently chose to nest in agricultural fields over sand prairie sites, and offspring sex ratios and depredation rates were significantly influenced by crop planting. Despite detecting considerable genetic variation in our population, we found no relationship between relatedness and nesting location, suggesting that females are not transmitting nesting sites across generations. Our results suggest that agricultural practices can directly impact populations of animals with ESD, and will need to be considered in management decisions.     

Site fidelity,diel and seasonal activities of yellow‐phase Japanese eels (Anguilla japonica) in a freshwater habitat as inferred from acoustic telemetry

Japanese eels (Anguilla japonica) perform large‐scale oceanic migrations between their spawning ground and growth habitats in continental waters during life history. However, between these migrations, they spend most of time in growth habitats such as rivers. To investigate the diel and seasonal activities, homing behaviour and home range of yellow‐phase Japanese eels in the lower reach of the Tone River, we tracked them throughout a year using a fine‐scale positioning system (VPS) based on acoustic telemetry. The tracked eels were generally nocturnal, but not exclusively. They were mainly mobile from spring to autumn, with little or no activity observed during winter. A transport‐release experiment showed that most eels returned to their original capture area within 13 days after release. The eels had very small home ranges (mean ± SD = 0.085 ± 0.068 km²), core areas (0.014 ± 0.014 km²) and linear home ranges (744 ± 268 m). They also tended to be distributed on one particular side of the river (right or left bank) and in one particular shore type (revetment or vegetation), rarely moving from one to the other. This study provides evidence for nocturnal, dormancy, homing behaviours, limited habitat use and small home range size in Japanese eels. The eels clearly showed strong fidelity to a “familiar” site, which contrasts with the long distances travelled during upstream and downstream migration phases in the river, and during spawning migrations in the ocean.     

Char ecology. Natal homing in sympatric populations of anadromous Arctic char Salvelinus alpinus (L.): roles of pheromone recognition

Abstract –  This study revealed that progeny of sympatric Salangen Arctic char, omitted from any kind of imprinting to home water, returned with high precision to the home river and parental locality upon releases in their native marine environments. Fish did not select river randomly, and the homing precision was the same for progeny whether fertilized in home stream or in foreign water. The progeny studied originate from the lake Øvervatnet and the Salangen River population and were hatched and reared at a hatchery at Voss in southern Norway. Experimental material comprised freshwater resident and smolt released from parr directly. The freshwater resident is partly anadromous exhibiting about 74% smolt when released directly into the sea. Char at all stages (resident, transformed resident, and smolt released from parr directly) returned in significant numbers to the home river system and the site of the specific parental population.