Wednesday, June 23, 2010

49th Annual Meeting. Society of Nematologists. Boise, Idaho

Abstracts

Abstract Submission Deadline has passed.

VIEW ABSTRACTS - pdf file

ABSTRACT INFORMATION

Time for oral presentations = 12 minutes, plus 3 minutes for discussion.
Posters must be 46 inches (height) x 36 inches (width)
More information here

Friday, June 18, 2010

Workshop on meiofauna from chemosynthetic deep-sea environments

The Census of Marine Life project ChEss (Biogeography of Deep-Water Chemosynthetic Ecosystems) is organizing a workshop on ‘Meiofauna from chemosynthetic deep-sea environments’ in conjunction with the 14^th International Meiofauna Conference at Ghent University July, 17 2010. This workshop is organized by Monika Bright and Ann Vanreusel and we would like to invite you to attend for free.

The aim of this workshop is to bring together meiofauna researchers who are interested in any biological aspect concerning deep- sea reducing environments, such as hydrothermal vents, cold seeps, whale falls, sunken wood, and areas of low oxygen that intersect with continental margins and seamounts.

We will have sessions in which we will discuss the current state of knowledge of biogeography, biodiversity and abundance, ecology, origin and evolution, morphological and molecular phylogeny, and taxonomy, and future plans. Further we will discuss the possiblities of multidisciplinary and integrative research, building a platform of researchers to combine our efforts in databases, field programmes, and outreach activities.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

12th Deep Sea Biology Symposium (Event recently finalized)

Reykjavík, Iceland, 7-11 June 2010

The 12th Deep-sea Biology Symposium is going to be held in Reykjavík, Iceland from June 7-11 (with a time-saving early sign-in on June 6th for those who wish to come the day before and sign in rather that doing it early on Monday morning). The University of Iceland will be hosting the event and there will be at least two excursions: one full day and one evening (we are still working out details of the rest of the social aspect of the week). The convener is Professor Jörundur Svavarsson.

We welcome you to the symposium home page and look forward to seeing you in June.

Photo top left - Organisms on bottom: Copyright, Centre for Geobiology, University of Bergen.

Program Book as a .pdf

June 8th, 2010

No comments

Well, the symposium is half finished, but it was brought to our atention that we needed to post the final copy of the book of abstracts here. Because of its size and the fact that it had to be sent in e-mail to me for upload, it is in three parts.
Program Book-part 1
Program Book-part 2
Program Book-part 3

More information here

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Recent Publications On Meiofauna

Use of colloidal iron as a tracer to measure the ingestion rates of free-living marine nematodes

Fascículo/ejemplar/númeroVolume 66, Number 2 / abril de 2010

Dongsung Kim¹ and Yoshihisa Shirayama²

(1)	Marine Living Resources Research Division, Korea Ocean Research & Development Institute, Ansan P.O. Box 29, Seoul, 425-600, Korea

(2)	Seto Marine Biological Laboratory, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Shirahama-cho, Wakayama 649-2211, Japan

Received: 10 September 2009 Revised: 24 November 2009 Accepted: 24 November 2009 Published online: 25 March 2010

Abstract

Ingestion rates of free-living marine nematodes were measured using colloidal iron as a tracer. Detritus labeled with colloidal iron was fed to the dominant nematode species and cultured. The iron ingested by the animals was quantified using a scanning electron microscope equipped with differential X-ray energy analyzer (EDX). Average ingestion rates (µgC ind.⁻¹day⁻¹) measured were 0.28 for Symplocostoma sp., 0.29 for Polygastrophora sp., 0.73 for Mesacanthion sp. and 0.15 for Metachromadora sp. These values were higher than the values determined using radioactive organic materials as tracers, though the present method is considered to provide conservative values. This result thus strongly suggests that the ingestion rates of nematodes measured so far were underestimated, and the use of colloidal iron has advantages over the use of radioactive organic matter as a tracer.

Keywords Ingestion rates - nematodes - colloidal iron - EDX - subtidal

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Diuronotus aspetos (Gastrotricha): new morphological data and description of the spermatozoon

Fascículo/ejemplar/númeroVolume 64, Number 1 / marzo de 2010

Maria Balsamo¹, L. Guidi¹, M. Ferraguti², L. Pierboni¹ and R. M. Kristensen³

(1)	Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Uomo, dell’Ambiente e della Natura, Università di Urbino, Urbino, Italy

(2)	Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Milano, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milan, Italy

(3)	Zoological Museum, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, 2100 Copenhagen OE, Denmark

Received: 4 February 2009 Revised: 30 April 2009 Accepted: 11 May 2009 Published online: 30 June 2009

Communicated by H.-D. Franke.

Abstract The genus Diuronotus (Gastrotricha Chaetonotida) includes two species, D. aspetos and D. rupperti; its morphological affinity with the genus Musellifer has been pointed out. Here, new morphological data from light and electron microscopy and the description of the spermatozoon of D. aspetos are reported, with the aim of clarifying the phylogenetic position of the genus. The mouth cavity has a wreath of stout, protrusible processes. The two secondary furcal tubes are inserted ventrally and are covered with elongate scales. All the caudal tubes contain a duo-gland adhesive system. Three kinds of ciliated sensory receptors are described for the first time in Diuronotus. The filiform spermatozoon consists of an acrosome, a nuclear-mitochondrial complex, and a flagellum. The acrosome including two long and different cones, the single, giant mitochondrion surrounding the nuclear base, and the axoneme arising from a deep nuclear ‘fossa’ appear as autapomorphic characters. The keeled, solid cuticular body scales and the spermatozoon with a supernumerary membrane are features shared with Musellifer delamarei. The structure of the accessory fibres is a strong spermatological similarity between the families Muselliferidae and Xenotrichulidae. Thus morphological and spermatological characters support the inclusion of D. aspetos and M. delamarei into the family Muselliferidae recently described. The comparative spermatology also suggests that Xenotrichulidae may be the sister group of Muselliferidae.

Keywords Diuronotus aspetos - Gastrotricha - Chaetonotida - Ultrastructure - Spermatozoon

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Reflections on distribution and origin of the halacarid genus Isobactrus (Acari: Halacaridae)

Fascículo/ejemplar/númeroVolume 40, Number 1 / marzo de 2010

Ilse Bartsch¹

(1)	Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, DZMB, c/o DESY, Notkestr. 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany

Received: 9 April 2009 Revised: 14 October 2009 Accepted: 2 November 2009 Published online: 24 November 2009

Abstract

Isobactrus is a worldwide-spread genus. Most species live in the upper and middle area of a more or less regularly emerged zone. The species diversity is distinctly higher in the northern than in the southern hemisphere. At present, the genus consists of 29 species. An analysis of the geographical distribution of 36 external morphological characters revealed a uniformity in the combination of states of northern Pacific species, but a heterogeneity in the characters of northern Atlantic species. Several character states demonstrate a distinct north/south or north/tropics/south distribution. A parsimony analysis revealed basal northern Atlantic clades, a northern Pacific clade that also includes Northern Atlantic species and an Indo-Pacific clade with a tropical area cluster. The present data suggest that the genus Isobactrus evolved in the Palaearctic Ocean and might represent a basal lineage within the family Halacaridae.

Keywords Halacaroidea - Characters - Distribution - Phylogeny - Palaearctic Ocean

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