Loach exhibit conspicuous drilling behaviors in the mud of shallow waters,yet their burrow morphology and the factors affecting this behavior have received little attention.We characterized the burrow morphology and w...Loach exhibit conspicuous drilling behaviors in the mud of shallow waters,yet their burrow morphology and the factors affecting this behavior have received little attention.We characterized the burrow morphology and water quality of the pond loach Misgurnus anguillicaudatus in three scenarios:in tanks without plants,tanks with the free-floating plant water hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes,and tanks with water lettuce Pistia stratiotes.Water hyacinth effectively removed water TN,COD,NO3-N and NH4-N,and water lettuce removed water TP and NH4-N.Water hyacinth and water lettuce markedly reduced water turbidity and DO,increased TOC and EC.Water hyacinth purified water more effectively than water lettuce,providing a suitable habitat for loach feeding,living and burrowing.The burrow structures were V-shaped,Y-shaped,inverted L-shaped,or complicated dendritic networks composed of multiple V shapes.The hyacinth treatment was characterized by the greatest burrow volume,length,depth,and structural complexity,but the opening size was reduced by dense root mat coverage.Burrows in the water lettuce treatment were characterized by intermediate volume,length,branches and sinuosity,but they had the largest opening and pit size.The control treatment had a flat bottom with the smallest,shortest burrows.This study indicates that free-floating plants improve habitat suitability and change burrow morphology and may be used to improve loach breeding methods。展开更多
Connected individuals(ramets)of clonal plants are frequently fragmented due to disturbance,and such clonal fragmentation may influence their growth.However,it is unclear whether different patterns of clonal fragmentat...Connected individuals(ramets)of clonal plants are frequently fragmented due to disturbance,and such clonal fragmentation may influence their growth.However,it is unclear whether different patterns of clonal fragmentation produce differential effects on plant growth and whether such differences vary with genotypes.We collected one group of connected ramets of the stoloniferous floating invasive macrophyte Pistia stratiotes from each of six provinces(Guangdong,Guangxi,Hubei,Jiangsu,Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces)of China,and assumed that these ramets belonged to different genotypes.After several generations of vegetative propagation to remove potential parental effects,new ramets(hereafter referred to as parent ramets)from each of these assumed genotypes were subjected to four patterns of clonal fragmentation,i.e.,all offspring ramets produced during the experiment remained connected to their parent ramet(control),or the primary(1°),secondary(2°)or tertiary(3°)offspring ramets were disconnected from their parent ramet.We found significant growth differences among the assumed genotypes,confirming that the ramets sampled from these six provinces were from different genotypes.Compared with the control,disconnecting the 1°,2°or 3°ramets did not significantly affect biomass of the whole clone(i.e.,the parent ramet plus all offspring ramets)of P.stratiotes.Disconnecting the 1°ramets significantly increased biomass of the parental ramet of all six genotypes compared with the control.However,disconnecting the 2°or 3°ramets had little effect on biomass of the parent ramet for all genotypes except the Guangxi genotype,for which disconnecting the 2°ramets decreased biomass of the parent ramet.Disconnecting the 1°,2°or 3°ramets had no impact on biomass or number of the 1°or the 3°ramets for any of the genotypes.However,disconnecting the 1°ramets decreased biomass of the 2°ramets for the Guangdong and Yunnan genotypes,but had no effect for the other four genotypes.We conclude that different patterns of clonal fragmentation can have different impacts on parent and offspring ramets of P.stratiotes and such an impact may vary with genotypes.展开更多
基金This study was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality(Grant No.13ZR1427300)Spark Program of the state ministry of science and technology of China(2015GA680005).
文摘Loach exhibit conspicuous drilling behaviors in the mud of shallow waters,yet their burrow morphology and the factors affecting this behavior have received little attention.We characterized the burrow morphology and water quality of the pond loach Misgurnus anguillicaudatus in three scenarios:in tanks without plants,tanks with the free-floating plant water hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes,and tanks with water lettuce Pistia stratiotes.Water hyacinth effectively removed water TN,COD,NO3-N and NH4-N,and water lettuce removed water TP and NH4-N.Water hyacinth and water lettuce markedly reduced water turbidity and DO,increased TOC and EC.Water hyacinth purified water more effectively than water lettuce,providing a suitable habitat for loach feeding,living and burrowing.The burrow structures were V-shaped,Y-shaped,inverted L-shaped,or complicated dendritic networks composed of multiple V shapes.The hyacinth treatment was characterized by the greatest burrow volume,length,depth,and structural complexity,but the opening size was reduced by dense root mat coverage.Burrows in the water lettuce treatment were characterized by intermediate volume,length,branches and sinuosity,but they had the largest opening and pit size.The control treatment had a flat bottom with the smallest,shortest burrows.This study indicates that free-floating plants improve habitat suitability and change burrow morphology and may be used to improve loach breeding methods。
基金We thank the three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(grant 31800341).
文摘Connected individuals(ramets)of clonal plants are frequently fragmented due to disturbance,and such clonal fragmentation may influence their growth.However,it is unclear whether different patterns of clonal fragmentation produce differential effects on plant growth and whether such differences vary with genotypes.We collected one group of connected ramets of the stoloniferous floating invasive macrophyte Pistia stratiotes from each of six provinces(Guangdong,Guangxi,Hubei,Jiangsu,Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces)of China,and assumed that these ramets belonged to different genotypes.After several generations of vegetative propagation to remove potential parental effects,new ramets(hereafter referred to as parent ramets)from each of these assumed genotypes were subjected to four patterns of clonal fragmentation,i.e.,all offspring ramets produced during the experiment remained connected to their parent ramet(control),or the primary(1°),secondary(2°)or tertiary(3°)offspring ramets were disconnected from their parent ramet.We found significant growth differences among the assumed genotypes,confirming that the ramets sampled from these six provinces were from different genotypes.Compared with the control,disconnecting the 1°,2°or 3°ramets did not significantly affect biomass of the whole clone(i.e.,the parent ramet plus all offspring ramets)of P.stratiotes.Disconnecting the 1°ramets significantly increased biomass of the parental ramet of all six genotypes compared with the control.However,disconnecting the 2°or 3°ramets had little effect on biomass of the parent ramet for all genotypes except the Guangxi genotype,for which disconnecting the 2°ramets decreased biomass of the parent ramet.Disconnecting the 1°,2°or 3°ramets had no impact on biomass or number of the 1°or the 3°ramets for any of the genotypes.However,disconnecting the 1°ramets decreased biomass of the 2°ramets for the Guangdong and Yunnan genotypes,but had no effect for the other four genotypes.We conclude that different patterns of clonal fragmentation can have different impacts on parent and offspring ramets of P.stratiotes and such an impact may vary with genotypes.
