Reality checks on microbial food web interactions in dilution experiments: responses to the comments of Dolan and McKeon

International audienceDolan and McKeon (2005) have recently criticized microzooplankton grazing rate estimates by the dilution approach as being systematically biased and significantly overestimated. Their argument is based on observed mortality responses of ciliated protozoa to reduced food in several coastal experiments and a global extrapolation which assumes that all grazing in all ocean systems scales to the abundance of ciliates. We suggest that these conclusions are unrealistic on several counts: they do not account for community differences between open ocean and coastal systems; they ignore direct experimental evidence supporting dilution rate estimates in the open oceans, and they discount dilution effects on mortality rate as well as growth in multi-layered, open-ocean food webs. High microzooplankton grazing rates in open-ocean systems are consistent with current views on export fluxes and trophic transfers. More importantly, significantly lower rates would fail to account for the efficient nutrient recycling requirements of these resource-limited and rapid-turnover communities

Bridging the gap between marine biogeochemical and fisheries sciences; configuring the zooplankton link

Mitra, Aditee ... et. al.-- Special issue North Atlantic Ecosystems, the role of climate and anthropogenic forcing on their structure and function.-- 24 pages, 6 figures, 2 tablestrophic components interact. However, integrative end-to-end ecosystem studies (experimental and/or modelling) are rare. Experimental investigations often concentrate on a particular group or individual species within a trophic level, while tropho-dynamic field studies typically employ either a bottom-up approach concentrating on the phytoplankton community or a top-down approach concentrating on the fish community. Likewise the emphasis within modelling studies is usually placed upon phytoplankton- dominated biogeochemistry or on aspects of fisheries regulation. In consequence the roles of zooplankton communities (protists and metazoans) linking phytoplankton and fish communities are typically under-represented if not (especially in fisheries models) ignored. Where represented in ecosystem models, zooplankton are usually incorporated in an extremely simplistic fashion, using empirical descriptions merging various interacting physiological functions governing zooplankton growth and development, and thence ignoring physiological feedback mechanisms. Here we demonstrate, within a modelled plankton food-web system, how trophic dynamics are sensitive to small changes in parameter values describing zooplankton vital rates and thus the importance of using appropriate zooplankton descriptors. Through a comprehensive review, we reveal the mismatch between empirical understanding and modelling activities identifying important issues that warrant further experimental and modelling investigation. These include: food selectivity, kinetics of prey consumption and interactions with assimilation and growth, form of voided material, mortality rates at different age-stages relative to prior nutrient history. In particular there is a need for dynamic data series in which predator and prey of known nutrient history are studied interacting under varied pH and temperature regimes. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY licenseAC is funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain through project CTM2009-08783. AM was part funded by NERC UK project NE/K001345/1. KJF was funded by NERC UK through projects NE/H01750X/1 and NE/F003455/1. [...] This review was supported in part by project EURO-BASIN (Ref. 264933, 7FP, European Union), and by a Leverhulme International Network ‘‘Placing marine mixotrophs in context: modelling mixotrophy in a changing world’’Peer reviewe

Unloaded Shortening Velocity of Voluntarily and Electrically Activated Human Dorsiflexor Muscles In Vivo

We have previously shown that unloaded shortening velocity (V0) of human plantar flexors can be determined in vivo, by applying the “slack test” to submaximal voluntary contractions (J Physiol 567:1047–1056, 2005). In the present study, to investigate the effect of motor unit recruitment pattern on V0 of human muscle, we modified the slack test and applied this method to both voluntary and electrically elicited contractions of dorsiflexors. A series of quick releases (i.e., rapid ankle joint rotation driven by an electrical dynamometer) was applied to voluntarily activated dorsiflexor muscles at three different contraction intensities (15, 50, and 85% of maximal voluntary contraction; MVC). The quick-release trials were also performed on electrically activated dorsiflexor muscles, in which three stimulus conditions were used: submaximal (equal to 15%MVC) 50-Hz stimulation, supramaximal 50-Hz stimulation, and supramaximal 20-Hz stimulation. Modification of the slack test in vivo resulted in good reproducibility of V0, with an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.87 (95% confidence interval: 0.68–0.95). Regression analysis showed that V0 of voluntarily activated dorsiflexor muscles significantly increased with increasing contraction intensity (R2 = 0.52, P<0.001). By contrast, V0 of electrically activated dorsiflexor muscles remained unchanged (R2<0.001, P = 0.98) among three different stimulus conditions showing a large variation of tetanic torque. These results suggest that the recruitment pattern of motor units, which is quite different between voluntary and electrically elicited contractions, plays an important role in determining shortening velocity of human skeletal muscle in vivo

Matching radiative transfer models and radiosonde data from the EPS/Metop Sodankylä campaign to IASI measurements

Radiances observed from IASI are compared to calculated ones. Calculated radiances are obtained using several radiative transfer models (OSS, LBLRTM v11.3 and v11.6) on best estimates of the atmospheric state vectors. The atmospheric state vectors are derived from cryogenic frost point hygrometer and humidity dry bias corrected RS92 measurements flown on sondes launched 1 h and 5 min before IASI overpass time. The temperature and humidity best estimate profiles are obtained by interpolating or extrapolating these measurements to IASI overpass time. The IASI observed and calculated radiances match to within one sigma IASI instrument noise in the spectral region where water vapour is a strong absorber (wavenumber, ν, in the range of 1500 ≤ ν ≤ 1570 and 1615 ≤ ν ≤ 1800 cm−1)

Evidence for mass renormalization in LaNiO$"" sub 3_: an in situ soft x-ray photoemission study of epitaxial films

We investigate the electronic structure of high-quality single-crystal LaNiO$_3$ (LNO) thin films using in situ photoemission spectroscopy (PES). The in situ high-resolution soft x-ray PES measurements on epitaxial thin films reveal the intrinsic electronic structure of LNO. We find a new sharp feature in the PES spectra crossing the Fermi level, which is derived from the correlated Ni 3$d$ $e_g$ electrons. This feature shows significant enhancement of spectral weight with decreasing temperature. From a detailed analysis of resistivity data, the enhancement of spectral weight is attributed to increasing electron correlations due to antiferromagnetic fluctuations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. submitted to Phys. Rev.

Contribution of oxygen extraction fraction to maximal oxygen uptake in healthy young men

We analysed the importance of systemic and peripheral arteriovenous O2 difference (a- v− O2 and a-vf O2 difference, respectively) and O2 extraction fraction for maximal oxygen uptake ( V˙ O2max ). Fick law of diffusion and the Piiper and Scheid model were applied to investigate whether diffusion vs perfusion limitations vary with V˙ O2max . Articles (n=17) publishing individual data (n=154) on V˙ O2max , maximal cardiac output ( Q˙ max ; indicator-dilution or Fick method), a- v− O2 difference (catheters or Fick equation) and systemic O2 extraction fraction were identified. For the peripheral responses, group-mean data (articles: n=27; subjects: n=234) on leg blood flow (LBF; thermodilution), a-vf O2 difference and O2 extraction fraction (arterial and femoral venous catheters) were obtained. Q˙ max and two-LBF increased linearly by 4.9-6.0 L·min-1 per 1 L·min-1 increase in V˙ O2max (R2 =0.73 and R2 =0.67, respectively; both P&lt;0.001). The a- v− O2 difference increased from 118-168 mL·L-1 from a V˙ O2max of 2-4.5 L·min-1 followed by a reduction (second-order polynomial: R2 =0.27). After accounting for a hypoxemia-induced decrease in arterial O2 content with increasing V˙ O2max (R2 =0.17; P&lt;0.001), systemic O2 extraction fraction increased up to ~90% ( V˙ O2max : 4.5 L·min-1 ) with no further change (exponential decay model: R2 =0.42). Likewise, leg O2 extraction fraction increased with V˙ O2max to approach a maximal value of ~90-95% (R2 =0.83). Muscle O2 diffusing capacity and the equilibration index Y increased linearly with V˙ O2max (R2 =0.77 and R2 =0.31, respectively; both P&lt;0.01), reflecting decreasing O2 diffusional limitations and accentuating O2 delivery limitations. In conclusion, although O2 delivery is the main limiting factor to V˙ O2max , enhanced O2 extraction fraction (≥90%) contributes to the remarkably high V˙ O2max in endurance-trained individuals

Iliopsoas and Gluteal Muscles Are Asymmetric in Tennis Players but Not in Soccer Players

To determine the volume and degree of asymmetry of iliopsoas (IL) and gluteal muscles (GL) in tennis and soccer players.IL and GL volumes were determined using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in male professional tennis (TP) and soccer players (SP), and in non-active control subjects (CG) (n = 8, 15 and 6, respectively).The dominant and non-dominant IL were hypertrophied in TP (24 and 36%, respectively, P<0.05) and SP (32 and 35%, respectively, P<0.05). In TP the asymmetric hypertrophy of IL (13% greater volume in the non-dominant than in the dominant IL, P<0.01) reversed the side-to-side relationship observed in CG (4% greater volume in the dominant than in the contralateral IL, P<0.01), whilst soccer players had similar volumes in both sides (P = 0.87). The degree of side-to-side asymmetry decreased linearly from the first lumbar disc to the pubic symphysis in TP (r = -0.97, P<0.001), SP (r = -0.85, P<0.01) and CG (r = -0.76, P<0.05). The slope of the relationship was lower in SP due to a greater hypertrophy of the proximal segments of the dominant IL. Soccer and CG had similar GL volumes in both sides (P = 0.11 and P = 0.19, for the dominant and contralateral GL, respectively). GL was asymmetrically hypertrophied in TP. The non-dominant GL volume was 20% greater in TP than in CG (P<0.05), whilst TP and CG had similar dominant GL volumes (P = 0.14).Tennis elicits an asymmetric hypertrophy of IL and reverses the normal dominant-to-non-dominant balance observed in non-active controls, while soccer is associated to a symmetric hypertrophy of IL. Gluteal muscles are asymmetrically hypertrophied in TP, while SP display a similar size to that observed in controls. It remains to be determined whether the different patterns of IL and GL hypertrophy may influence the risk of injury

Interface double-exchange ferromagnetism in the Mn-Zn-O system: New class of biphase magnetism

In this Letter, we experimentally show that the room temperature ferromagnetism in the Mn-Zn-O system recently observed is associated with the coexistence of Mn^(3+) and Mn^(4+) via a double-exchange mechanism. The presence of the ZnO around MnO_2 modifies the kinetics of MnO_2 →Mn_2O_3 reduction and favors the coexistence of both Mn oxidation states. The ferromagnetic phase is associated with the interface formed at the Zn diffusion front into Mn oxide, corroborated by preparing thin film multilayers that exhibit saturation magnetization 2 orders of magnitude higher than bulk samples