How To Hatch Drought-Resistant Cysts

Anyone who owns an aquarium knows about Artemia, a fairy shrimp sold as fish food. What’s sold are dried cysts, which hatch when put in water. Many other animals lay such cysts as life history adaptations to living in temporary waters. It just so happens that I have two projects in such waters: the saline Akrotiri Lake and the freshwater Liopetri vernal ponds.

For the past several months, I have had two freshwater aquaria at home where I hatched cysts from some sediment from the vernal ponds. The experiment was a big hit, although I never did manage to get adult crustaceans (but there were plants, all sorts of naupliae and even worms, all hatched from the sediment).

But the experience gathered was valuable, and I’m now taking on a completely new challenge: hatching ancient sediment from Akrotiri Lake. These were obtained opportunistically: sometime last year, an idiot tourist drove into the lake and his 4X4 got stuck. Hijinks ensued, with rescue efforts also getting stuck in the mud, and a trench had to be cut to get all the vehicles out. Luckily, a geologist was at hand to take free samples which would otherwise have necessitated proper drilling and coring (and who’s going to pay for that?).

The picture above shows the five layers sampled, arranged from left to right from bottom to top of the trench (so oldest to youngest layers). I am using sediment from the surface and from the next oldest layer in order to test out different ways of hatching, so that I can guarantee success with the bottom (and most precious) sediments. Notice that the bags are open. This is on purpose, and should be done with all bags containing drought-resistant cysts, because there are certain asshole fungi that specialise on such cysts. Closing the bags allow them to flourish, for some reason. So keep the bags open to avoid contamination (paradoxically).

Above is all the equipment needed in order to do hatching experiments, in doubles because I have two aquaria. The containers are on the left. It’s important that they’re made of clear material (glass is the best), because at least the first few days need constant light. On their left you see the air pump and associated tubing, very important because these containers can get anoxic pretty quickly. On the sheet of paper are accessories for the pump: a splitter with adjustable valves to control amount of air, safety valves, and the bubble thingie. It’s important that you get the type that produces large bubbles, as the naupliae that will hatch will choke on small bubbles.

Pictured above is how to set up the splitter-safety-bubble combination. Before you set this up, it’s a good idea to prepare your nutrient water. Simply take a 1L bottle of water and add 25g of yeast. It’s not a precise science – yeast comes in 100g packets here, and I use ~a quarter of it each time. For a saltwater aquarium, make it saline with the salt you get in aquarium shops. Make sure that the salinity roughly matches the target environment (Akrotiri is not salty at all, so not much salt is required). If you’re a daredevil, you can put some sugar into the water as well – but keep in mind this carries a big risk of fueling the development of pond scum which you have to skim, at least until hardcore herbivores hatch (not guaranteed).

Anyway, once you have all that prepared, you put the sediment in your container, and place the air bubble thingie on top, then pour in the water. Don’t be afraid of stirring things up while pouring, it simply simulates rainfall. Pictured below is my complete set up. Notice the paper near the aquaria: keep those to write down any observation and timestamps.

For the first few days, the container will be turbid as the sediment slowly settles. Once it’s clear, you can add some more yeast, causing the water to become cloudy again. It’s a good idea to develop some sort of homemade visibility scale (put a bright object on the other side of the aquarium, for example), because the speed at which the container clears up from the yeast is a direct correlation with organismic activity inside the container.

If you have a source of cysts – temporary ponds are a good place to get them – I strongly suggest you start a similar hatchery. It’s not only fascinating (especially in this case, where the sediment is thousands of years old), but if successful, it’s an easy way to set up a microcosm and observe ecology directly in your bedroom.

Current Project: The Behaviour of Kochiura aulica (Araneae: Theridiidae)

While spiders can be roughly classified according to hunting behaviour, individual species vary widely in their specific behaviour. This project is a small one and aims to characterise the behaviour of the theridiid Kochiura aulica, with a focus on its web behaviour – where does it usually rest, does it adorn the web, how does it choose an appropriate web-building spot, how does it react when prey gets stuck.

The reason I chose this spider species is because it’s the closest relative to Anelosimus spiders found on Cyprus. Many Anelosimus species exhibit sociality, a rare trait in spiders. In fact, it was only in Agnarsson (2004) that Kochiura was removed from synonymy with Anelosimus. By characterising its web-based behaviour, I am hoping that clues to the evolution of this sociality can be uncovered. “Hoping” is a bad word to use, I do have a hypothesis which I will iron out in a later post.

In addition to all that, I will also be trying to characterise the flexibility of its behaviour. This will be done by collecting individuals from as many different localities on the island and checking for differences in behavioural patterns and how modifiable they are. This will all be done experimentally. If they all exhibit the same responses to whatever I throw at them, then their behaviour isn’t flexible. If they show variety in their responses, it is flexible. Either result would be interesting, but I would be more interested in inflexible behaviour, as it might show environmentally-related hardwiring of behaviour (if a high-altitude individual behaves differently from a low-altitude individual, that’s something I find very interesting).

References:

Agnarsson I. 2004. Morphological phylogeny of cobweb spiders and their relatives (Araneae, Araneoidea, Theridiidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 141, 447-626.

Vernal Pond, 26. Feb. 2012: Anostraca

The vernal pond project is now officially underway – so far, it’s just been random trips to the place to check on the state of it. Now, there will be trips every Sunday morning, with a standardised sampling method (3 net sweeps at each of the designated spots) in addition to several bottle traps, so we can get statistically-rigorous data. I’ll put up more info once I’ve finalised the details (these two weeks are still part of the pilot study to perfect the methods – we’re not sure just how well the traps will work). In any case, I tried out the standardised net sweeps last Sunday and found some cool animals, so I’ll put them up here.

The ones that stuck out the most were these giant Anostraca. I highlighted one species of Anostraca from the Akrotiri Salt Lake in this post, but the ones in the vernal pond are very, very different. Probably a different genus, but I haven’t tried to ID them yet.

This is the male of the species. Right away, you’ll notice the size difference – the Akrotiri stuff is no more than 1 cm large. This one reaches to more than 1.5 cm, and some other ones in the sample were up to 2 cm. This is proper gigantism for these organisms, and it’s a phenomenon known from Anostraca in other vernal ponds. I’m not sure of the exact causes, but it might be a life history adaptation. We hope to be able to study this in the project.

Anyway, you can tell the above is a male, especially from parts (a) and (c). (a) is the modified second antenna of the male, which it uses to grasp the female during copulation. A picture later on shows the female counterpart. (c) is the penis. (b) shows the eye, and if you enlarge the picture, you’ll see a white stroke on it. This is the primary antenna. (d) are the phyllopodous legs, used for swimming, breathing and eating. (e) is the elongated furca of this species, making it very clearly different from anything I’ve seen from Akrotiri.

This is a close up of the penis.

This is a close-up of the grasping organ (2nd antenna). As you can see, it’s pretty ferocious, especially when compared to the female 2nd antenna (see below). Both of these appendages (the toothy things and the “forceps”) belong to the 2nd antenna, by the way; the first antenna is the thing jutting out above the eye. It’s really quite a fascinating modification.

And I will use this picture to highlight something else, for any readers will be using a steroscope to take pictures. This is a very bad picture – the rights side of the appendage is just a bland whiteness with no resolution. This is because of the angle and positioning (I took these under alcohol, so it’s very hard to actual get the organism stable), but also because of the lighting. So here’s a protip: when taking stereoscope pictures, always make them dark. A dark picture can always be brightened in GIMP/Photoshop to reveal Whiteness cannot be darkened to reveal features. If I had taken this picture properly, I would have been able to lighten that area to reveal the dentition on the appendage. Instead, it’s just a white blob. Keep this in mind.

This is the biramous furca. As you can see, it’s fringed with hairs. I’m not sure what their function is, I reckon it’s aerodynamic.

This is the female of the species. It’s slightly smaller. The easiest way to recognise it is the lack of grasping organ, and the egg pouch.The furca is identical in both sexes.

Also apparent in this picture is handling damage (to the left of the scale). It’s hard to get a grip on these things with forceps.

This is a close-up of the egg pouch. It’s another hint that this is a different species/genus from the ones in Akrotiri, who all have greenish eggs.

This is the head of the female. Here the difference between males and females is extremely obvious.

Expect pictures of odonate larvae, tadpoles, and bivalved crustaceans soon.

Papers of the Week

See my top picks here.

Arthropods:

Almeida et al. Biogeography and diversification of colletid bees (Hymenoptera: Colletidae): emerging patterns from the southern end of the world.

Brena & Akam. The embryonic development of the centipede Strigamia maritima.

Chai et al. A niche for Drosophila neuroblasts?

Chen et al. Expression of Calmodulin and Myosin Light Chain Kinase during Larval Settlement of the Barnacle Balanus amphitrite.

Fischer et al. Neither apposition nor superposition: the compound eyes of the Chestnut Leafminer Cameraria ohridella.

García & Sarmento. Relationship between body size and flying-related structures in Neotropical social wasps (Polistinae, Vespidae, Hymenoptera).

Gempe et al. Mixing of Honeybees with Different Genotypes Affects Individual Worker Behavior and Transcription of Genes in the Neuronal Substrate.

Goforth & Smith. Subsurface behaviours facilitate respiration by a physical gill in an adult giant water bug, Abedus herberti.

Hermes & Carpenter. Are Monobia and Montezumia Monophyletic? A Cladistic Analysis of their Species Groups Based on Morphological Data (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Eumeninae).

Ings et al. Colour-independent shape recognition of cryptic predators by bumblebees.

Ishikawa & Miura. Hidden aggression in termite workers: plastic defensive behaviour dependent upon social context.

Jeon et al. Molecular phylogeny of the marine littoral genus Cafius (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae) and implications for classification.

Kreuter et al. How the social parasitic bumblebee Bombus bohemicus sneaks into power of reproduction.

Lancet & Dukas. Socially Influenced Behaviour and Learning in Locusts.

Nakata. Plasticity in an extended phenotype and reversed up-down asymmetry of spider orb webs.

Mattoni et al. Orobothriurus (Scorpiones: Bothriuridae) phylogeny, Andean biogeography, and the relative importance of genitalic and somatic characters.

Pizzo et al. Trade-off between horns and other functional traits in two Onthophagus species (Scarabaeidae, Coleoptera).

Purcell et al. Effects of the social environment on the survival and fungal resistance of ant brood.

Rehm et al. The diversity and evolution of chelicerate hemocyanins.

Roselino & Hrncir. Repeated unrewarded scent exposure influences the food choice of stingless bee foragers, Melipona scutellaris.

Siegel et al. Ovarian regulation of foraging division of labour in Africanized backcross and pollen-hoarding honeybees.

Smith et al. Queen-specific signals and worker punishment in the ant Aphaenogaster cockerelli: the role of the Dufour’s gland.

Syme & Oakley. Dispersal between Shallow and Abyssal Seas and Evolutionary Loss and Regain of Compound Eyes in Cylindroleberidid Ostracods: Conflicting Conclusions from Different Comparative Methods.

Quicke. We Know Too Little about Parasitoid Wasp Distributions to Draw Any Conclusions about Latitudinal Trends in Species Richness, Body Size and Biology.

Velde et al. Male reproductive investment relative to age and flight behaviour in the monandrous butterfly Pararge aegeria.

Vogt. Ageing and longevity in the Decapoda (Crustacea): A review.

Botany:

Price et al. Cyanophora paradoxa Genome Elucidates Origin of Photosynthesis in Algae and Plants.

Developmental:

Holland & Onai. Early development of cephalochordates (Amphioxus).

Kimelman & Martin. Anterior–posterior patterning in early development: three strategies.

Lyons et al. Morphogenesis in sea urchin embryos: linking cellular events to gene regulatory network states.

Ecology:

Blakeslee et al. Parasites and invasions: a biogeographic examination of parasites and hosts in native and introduced ranges.

Gibbs et al. Development on drought-stressed host plants affects life history, flight morphology and reproductive output relative to landscape structure.

Gilman et al. Evolution of plant–pollinator mutualisms in response to climate change.

Environmental:

Brévault et al. Assessing the role of non-cotton refuges in delaying Helicoverpa armigera resistance to Bt cotton in West Africa.

Form & Riebesell. Acclimation to ocean acidification during long-term CO₂ exposure in the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa.

Gurung et al. Global Change and the World’s Mountains— Research Needs and Emerging Themes for Sustainable Development.

Hoppe et al. Implications of observed inconsistencies in carbonate chemistry measurements for ocean acidification studies.

Maas et al. The metabolic response of pteropods to acidification reflects natural CO2-exposure in oxygen minimum zones.

Evolution:

Hare et al. The self-domestication hypothesis: evolution of bonobo psychology is due to selection against aggression.

Jennions et al. The opportunity to be misled in studies of sexual selection.

Song et al. The ecological advantage of sexual reproduction in multicellular long-lived organisms.

Vonlanthen et al. Eutrophication causes speciation reversal in whitefish adaptive radiations.

Palaeontology:

Edwards et al. A new group of Early Devonian plants with valvate sporangia containing sculptured permanent dyads.

Moczydłowska & Nagovitsin. Ediacaran radiation of organic-walled microbiota recorded in the Ura Formation, Patom Uplift, East Siberia.

Perrin & Bosellini. Paleobiogeography of scleractinian reef corals: Changing patterns during the Oligocene–Miocene climatic transition in the Mediterranean.

Tapanila & Roberts. The Earliest Evidence of Holometabolan Insect Pupation in Conifer Wood.

Philosophy:

Rohr & Martin. Reduce, reuse, recycle scientific reviews.

Phylogenetics:

Etienne & Rosindell. Prolonging the Past Counteracts the Pull of the Present: Protracted Speciation Can Explain Observed Slowdowns in Diversification.

Mariadassou et al. Taxon Influence Index: Assessing Taxon-Induced Incongruities in Phylogenetic Inference.

Money & Whelan. Characterizing the Phylogenetic Tree-Search Problem.

Mooers et al. Branch Lengths on Birth–Death Trees and the Expected Loss of Phylogenetic Diversity.

Swenson et al. SuperFine: Fast and Accurate Supertree Estimation.

Systematics:

Hess et al. Shedding Light on Vampires: The Phylogeny of Vampyrellid Amoebae Revisited.

Kawauchi et al. Sipunculan phylogeny based on six genes, with a new classification and the descriptions of two new families.

Manuel & Forêt. Searching for Eve: Basal metazoans and the evolution of multicellular complexity.

Nakano et al. Phylogenetic position of gastrostomobdellid leeches (Hirudinida, Arhynchobdellida, Erpobdelliformes) and a new family for the genus Orobdella.

Platnick. The Poverty of the Phylocode: A Reply to de Queiroz and Donoghue.

Reid et al. A global molecular phylogeny of 147 periwinkle species (Gastropoda, Littorininae).

Sauquet et al. Testing the Impact of Calibration on Molecular Divergence Times Using a Fossil-Rich Group: The Case of Nothofagus (Fagales).

Vega & Wiens. Why are there so few fish in the sea?

Zapata & Jiménez. Species Delimitation: Inferring Gaps in Morphology across Geography.

Taxonomy:

Kurzątkowska & Zawal. Sigara dorsalis (Leach, 1817) (Heteroptera: Corixidae) – A New Species in Poland and Changes in its Eastern Range Extension.

Shen et al. Mesenchytraeus anisodiverticulus, a new enchytraeid with enlarged ventral chaetae (Annelida, Clitellata) from north-eastern China.

Zoology:

Adami et al. An allatotropin-like neuropeptide in Mesostoma ehrenbergii (Rhabdocoela, Platyhelminthes).

Arkhipkin et al. Vestigial phragmocone in the gladius points to a deepwater origin of squid (Mollusca: Cephalopoda).

Claremont et al. Speciation and dietary specialization in Drupa, a genus of predatory marine snails (Gastropoda: Muricidae).

Stach et al. The central and peripheral nervous system of Cephalodiscus gracilis (Pterobranchia, Deuterostomia).

Świątek et al. Ovary architecture of two branchiobdellid species and Acanthobdella peledina (Annelida, Clitellata).

Todaro et al. Gastrotricha: A Marine Sister for a Freshwater Puzzle.

Yoffe et al. A Modified View on Octocorals: Heteroxenia fuscescens Nematocysts Are Diverse, Featuring Both an Ancestral and a Novel Type.

Current Projects: Ayios Therissos Subfossil Coral Reef

A recently-discovered, as of yet undescribed (sub)fossil Cladocora coral reef complex is found on the Karpas Peninsula in Northern Cyprus. The preservation of the fossils is impeccable, with many shells retaining colours, ornamentation and spines, and the abundance and biodiversity of the locality are unparalleled in Cyprus.

Current Projects: The Marine Pliocene Palaeoecology of Cyprus

Cyprus has an almost completely continuous fossil record ranging from 70 million years ago to the end of the Pliocene 1.5 million years ago. Much information is recorded in these deposits, but of particular interest is the sequence preceding and following from the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC).

Current Projects: Pholcidae of Cyprus: A bridge between micro- and macroevolution

Pholcidae are some of the most abundant spiders in any given habitat: members of the family are found on all continents, all altitudes, and all ecosystems. They live anywhere from leaf litter to tree canopies to bedrooms. However, their cryptic behaviour, agility, and effective camouflage makes them hard to collect passively or actively, so their true abundance and diversity is very underestimated.