| 1. |
- Jönsson, K. Ingemar, 1959-, et al.
(författare)
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Experimentally induced anhydrobiosis in the tardigrade Richtersius coronifer : phenotypic factors affecting survival
- 2002
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Ingår i: Journal of Experimental Zoology. - : John Wiley & Sons Inc.. - 0022-104X .- 1097-010X. ; 293:6, s. 578-584
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ability of some animal taxa (e.g., nematodes, rotifers, and tardigrades) to enter an ametabolic (cryptobiotic) state is well known. Nevertheless, the phenotypic factors affecting successful anhydrobiosis have rarely been investigated. We report a laboratory study on the effects of body size, reproductive condition, and energetic condition on anhydrobiotic survival in a population of the eutardigrade Richtersius coronifer. Body size and energetic condition interacted in affecting the probability of survival, while reproductive condition had no effect. Large tardigrades had a lower probability of survival than medium-sized tardigrades and showed a positive response in survival to energetic condition. This suggests that energy constrained the possibility for large tardigrades toenter and to leave anhydrobiosis. As a possible alternative explanation for low survival in the largest specimens we discuss the expression of senescence. In line with the view that processes related to anhydrobiosis are connected with energetic costs we documented a decrease in the size of storage cells over a period of anhydrobiosis, showing for the first time that energy is consumed in the process of anhydrobiosis in tardigrades.
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| 2. |
- Jönsson, K. Ingemar, 1959-, et al.
(författare)
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On the disparate terminological use of the concept cryptobiosis
- 2004
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Ingår i: Journal of Fish Diseases. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0140-7775 .- 1365-2761. ; 27:3, s. 175-176
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Conceptual and terminological consistency is an important component of science, promoting clarity and preventing confusion. Scientists should therefore always try to avoid giving different meanings to the same term. Apart from this general aspect, multiple definitions of a single term also give rise to practical problems, particularly in connection with literature search. In this note, I will bring attention to a term, cryptobiosis, that has relatively recently appeared in the field of fish disease research, but which has a much longer history and use in a completely different area.The concept of cryptobiosis was introduced by Keilin (1959) and defined as ‘the state of an organism when it shows no visible signs of life and when its metabolic activity becomes hardly measurable, or comes reversibly to a standstill’ (Keilin 1959, p. 166). Cryptobiosis replaced the earlier term anabiosis, and is today generally accepted as the common term for different ametabolic life forms (e.g. Clegg 2001; Wright 2001). Cryptobiosis means ‘hidden life’, an appropriate name for a state in which all traditional attributes of life (metabolism, reproduction, DNA replication) are absent. Cryptobiotic life forms have been documented in a variety of organisms, including both plants and animals, but in the latter category mainly among invertebrates (Wright, Westh & Ramløv 1992). Cryptobiosis is commonly induced by desiccation (so-called anhydrobiosis; e.g. Keilin 1959; Jönsson 2001), and aquatic invertebrates such as rotifers, nematodes and tardigrades living in microhabitats exposed to rapid desiccation frequently enter a cryptobiotic state. The research field dealing with cryptobiotic, sensu ametabolic, life forms has expanded considerably during the last 30 years, to a large extent fuelled by the detection of the ability of the disaccharide trehalose to protect dry and frozen biological cells (Crowe 2002).More recently, a completely different use of the term cryptobiosis has appeared in the literature on fish disease. In this literature, the term refers to infections of fish by biflagellated protozoa of the genus Cryptobia. Because of the economic importance of salmonid fish, much of the Cryptobia research has focused on Cryptobia salmositica (Katz) that infects salmonids (Woo 2001). The origin of the term cryptobiosis within fish pathology and studies of Cryptobia is unclear, but the earliest record of the term that I have found is Obradovic & Fijan (1979) who used it in a paper on chemotherapeutic treatment against Cryptobia in carp. From 1987 onwards, Woo et al. have used the term frequently (e.g. Woo, Leatherland & Lee 1987; Woo 1987, 1998, 2001), but apparently without any comments on the original proposal of the term. Curiously, few other researchers on Cryptobia seem to have adopted the cryptobiosis terminology, at least as judged from an examination of published titles. Other authors have instead used the expression ‘infections by Cryptobia’. Although using cryptobiosis as a term for infections by Cryptobia is consistent with the rule of creating names for infectious diseases by putting -osis as a post-fix to the name of the infecting organism, in the current case it creates terminological confusion.The problems of using the term cryptobiosis in several unrelated fields are obvious. A title such as ‘The biology of cryptobiosis’ would attract the attention of many students interested in ametabolic life forms. They would be disappointed, however, if the paper turned out to be about Cryptobia infection biology. Similarly, fish biologists would find the publication irrelevant to their research if it were properly confined to ametabolic life forms.Because ‘cryptobiosis’ as a term for ametabolic life forms is well established and has been used for more than 40 years, it should have priority over the more recent and limited use within fish pathology. I therefore hope that fish pathologists will avoid using the term cryptobiosis and instead use ‘infections by Cryptobia’, ‘cryptobiasis’ or some other term that does not interfere with already established terminology.
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| 3. |
- Bertolani, Roberto, et al.
(författare)
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Experiences with dormancy in tardigrades
- 2004
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Ingår i: Journal of limnology. - 1129-5767 .- 1723-8633. ; 63:Suppl. 1, s. 16-25
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Tardigrades often colonise extreme habitats, in which they survive using both types of dormancy: quiescence and diapause. Together with nematodes and bdelloid rotifers, tardigrades are known to enter quiescence (with several forms of cryptobiosis: anhydrobiosis, cryobiosis, anoxybiosis, osmobiosis) at any stage of their life cycle, from egg to adult. Entering anhydrobiosis, tardigrades contract their body into a so-called tun, loosing most of their free and bound water (>95%), synthesizing cell protectants (e.g., trehalose, glycerol, heat shock proteins) and strongly reducing or suspending their metabolism. Our research on cryptobiosis focused on some ecological and evolutionary aspects. We evaluated: i) the long-term anhydrobiotic survival by comparing quantitative data on recovery from naturally induced desiccation in several species of tardigrades; ii) differences in survival patterns between species and populations by experimentally inducing anhydrobiosis and cryobiosis; iii) phenotypic factors affecting anhydrobiotic survival. As regards diapause, we considered encystment and eggs. Encystment involves at least the synthesis of new cuticular structures. Morphological changes during cyst formation are more complex than those involved in tun formation. We analyzed more in detail encystment processes, comparing a semiterrestrial with a limnic species. Several inter-specific differences have been identified, other than the production of two types of cysts in the semiterrestrial species. Our analysis of life history traits of a laboratory reared strain of a soil tardigrade revealed a particular hatching phenology that involved the production of both subitaneous and resting eggs. The latter need a cue to hatch (dehydration followed by re-hydration). In addition, the evolutionary meaning of dormancy in tardigrades is discussed
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| 4. |
- Brodin, Anders, et al.
(författare)
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Optimal energy allocation and behaviour in female raptorial birds during the nestling period
- 2003
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Ingår i: Ecoscience. - : University Laval. - 1195-6860. ; 10:2, s. 140-150
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In many raptors and owls the male is the main provider of food in the early phase of the nestling period while the female incubates the eggs and broods the young. In the nestling period the female often helps the male to feed the young, but the factors affecting whether and when she leaves the brood to hunt have not been investigated in detail. We present a dynamic state variable model that analyses female behaviour and fat storage dynamics over the nestling period. The results show that in the first half of the nestling period the female faces a conflict between the need to brood the young and the need to hunt to provision them with food. This conflict arises because the energy needs of the young peak early in the nestling period, at a time when they still cannot thermoregulate and therefore need brooding from the female. The most critical period is the second nestling week, when both female and nestling fat reserves will decrease to low levels. Large female fat reserves in the early nestling period provide a solution to this conflict and are essential for successful breeding. Stochasticity in male provisioning is thus not needed to explain why females should be fat when the eggs hatch. Under normal circumstances, the female broods during the first two weeks and leaves the young only if hunting is absolutely necessary. After the second week the energy requirements are relaxed, and whether the female assists the male in hunting or not depends on factors such as male hunting success, environmental stochasticity, and energy requirements of the young. Our model provides a framework for empirical investigations on female behaviour during breeding in raptors, owls, and other birds with marked division of labour.
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| 5. |
- Carlsson, Bengt, et al.
(författare)
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Differences between the iterated prisoner's dilemma and the chicken game under noisy conditions
- 2002
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The prisoner's dilemma has evolved into a standard game for analyzing the success of cooperative strategies in repeated games. With the aim of investigating the behavior of strategies in some alternative games we analyzed the outcome of iterated games for both the prisoner's dilemma and the chicken game. In the chicken game, mutual defection is punished more strongly than in the prisoner's dilemma, and yields the lowest fitness. We also ran our analyses under different levels of noise. The results reveal a striking difference in the outcome between the games. Iterated chicken game needed more generations to find a winning strategy. It also favored nice, forgiving strategies able to forgive a defection from an opponent. In particular the well-known strategy tit-for-tat has a poor successrate under noisy conditions. The chicken game conditions may be relatively common in other sciences, and therefore we suggest that this game should receive more interest as a cooperative game from researchers within computer science.
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| 6. |
- Jönsson, K. Ingemar, 1959-, et al.
(författare)
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A model on the evolution of cryptobiosis
- 2003
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Ingår i: Annales Zoologici Fennici. - 0003-455X .- 1797-2450. ; 40:4, s. 331-340
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cryptobiosis is an ametabolic state of life entered by some lower organisms (among metazoans mainly rotifers, tardigrades and nematodes) in response to adverse environmental conditions. Despite a long recognition of cryptobiotic organisms, the evolutionary origin and life history consequences of this biological phenomenon have remained unexplored. We present one of the first theoretical models on the evolution of cryptobiosis, using a hypothetical population of marine tardigrades that migrates between open sea and the tidal zone as the model framework. Our model analyses the conditions under which investments into anhydrobiotic (cryptobiosis induced by desiccation) functions will evolve, and which factors affect the optimal level Of Such investments. In particular, we evaluate how the probability of being exposed to adverse conditions (getting stranded) and the consequences for survival Of Such exposure (getting desiccated) affects the option for cryptobiosis to evolve. The optimal level of investment into anhydrobiotic traits increases with increasing probability of being stranded as well as with increasing negative survival effects of being stranded. However, our analysis shows that the effect on survival of being stranded is a more important parameter than the probability of stranding for the evolution of anhydrobiosis. The existing, although limited, evidence from empirical studies seems to support some of these predictions.
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| 7. |
- Jönsson, K. Ingemar, 1959-
(författare)
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Björndjur
- 2001
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Ingår i: Biologen. - 0345-1127. ; :1, s. 43-47
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Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Jönsson, K. Ingemar, 1959-
(författare)
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Inget liv utan vatten
- 2001
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Ingår i: Forskning och framsteg. - 0015-7937. ; :6, s. 59-
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Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)
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| 10. |
- Ter Schure, Arnout F.H., et al.
(författare)
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Latitudinal Fractionation of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers and Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Frogs (Rana temporaria)
- 2002
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 36:23, s. 5057-5061
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The flame retardant polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have become ubiquitous environmental pollutants. The environmental distribution of PBDEs is much less studied than that of the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).To compare the environmental fate of the PCBs withtheir partial substitute, the PBDEs, common frogs (Ranatemporaria) were collected along a 1500-km-long latitudinal gradient of the Scandinavian Peninsula and their livers analyzed for PCBs and PBDEs. Mean concentrations of total PCBs and BDE47 ranged from 9200 to 92 900 and 30 to120 ng kg-1 fresh weight, respectively, whereas BDE99 was detected in less than 50% of the frogs. PCB concentrations were higher than that of the PBDEs, and the differences decreased in the northern latitudes. Moreover, the pollutant concentrations in frog livers were negative functions of latitude. The observed scatter and regression slopes imply several influencing factors (such as habitat, exposure route, uptake, metabolism, excretion, etc.) and indicate release events instead of the grasshopper effect. Biological variables such as gender, age, body size, and lipid content did not influence pollutant concentrations in the frog livers. The total PCB and BDE47 concentrations in frogs were highly correlated. Hence, their environmental fate is analogous and our results highlight the need to examine the potential role of xenobiotics on amphibian populations.
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