Search results for " Mollusc"

Decreasing in patch-size of Cystoseira forests reduces the diversity of their associated molluscan assemblage in Mediterranean rocky reefs

2021

Abstract Canopy-forming seaweeds of the genus Cystoseira (Fucales, Phaeophyceae) form diverse and productive habitats along temperate rocky coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. During the last decade, Cystoseira forests have retracted their range considerably due to many interacting environmental, biological and anthropogenic pressures. We investigated how reducing in patch-size of C. montagnei affects their associated molluscan communities at the shallow northwest rocky shores of Palermo (Sicily, Italy). Molluscs were sampled from the fronds of individual thalli, clumps of 3 and 5 thalli of C. montagnei over an annual vegetative cycle (May–September) in two sites within the Marine Protected Ar…

Responses of marine mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis (Bivalvia: Mytilidae) after infection with the pathogen Vibrio splendidus

2019

International audience; Bivalve molluscs possess effective cellular and humoral defence mechanisms against bacterial infection. Although the immune responses of mussels to challenge with pathogenic vibrios have been largely investigated, the effects at the site of injection at the tissue level have not been so far evaluated. To this aim, mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis were herein in vivo challenged with Vibrio splendidus to assess the responses induced in hemolymph and posterior adductor muscle (PAM), being the site of bacterial infection. The number of living intra-hemocyte bacteria increased after the first hour post-injection (p.i.), suggesting the occurrence of an intense phagocytosi…

Prevalence of infection as a predictor of multiple genotype infection frequency in parasites with multiple-host life cycle.

2012

In nature, parasites commonly share hosts with other conspecific parasite genotypes. While adult parasites typically show aggregated distribution in their final hosts, aggregation of clonal parasite genotypes in intermediate hosts, such as those of trematodes in molluscs, is not generally known. However, infection of a host by multiple parasite genotypes has significant implications for evolution of virulence and host-parasite coevolution. Aggregated distribution of the clonal stages can increase host mortality and reduce larval output of each infecting genotype through interclonal competition, and therefore have significant implications for parasite epidemiology. The aim of this study was …

The conservation status of the world's freshwater molluscs

2021

With the biodiversity crisis continuing unchecked, we need to establish levels and drivers of extinction risk, and reassessments over time, to effectively allocate conservation resources and track progress towards global conservation targets. Given that threat appears particularly high in freshwaters, we assessed the extinction risk of 1428 randomly selected freshwater molluscs using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, as part of the Sampled Red List Index project. We show that close to one-third of species in our sample are estimated to be threatened with extinction, with highest levels of threat in the Nearctic, Palearctic and Australasia and among gastropods. Threat levels were hi…

Shell palaeoproteomics: first application of peptide mass fingerprinting for the rapid identification of mollusc shells in archaeology.

2020

10 pages; International audience; Molluscs were one of the most widely-used natural resources in the past, and their shells are abundant among archaeological findings. However, our knowledge of the variety of shells that were circulating in prehistoric times (and thus their socio-economic and cultural value) is scarce due to the difficulty of achieving taxonomic determination of fragmented and/or worked remains. This study aims to obtain molecular barcodes based on peptide mass fingerprints (PMFs) of intracrystalline proteins, in order to obtain shell identification. Palaeoproteomic applications on shells are challenging, due to low concentration of molluscan proteins and an incomplete unde…

2019

Global changes promote the spread of infectious diseases worldwide. In this context, tropical urogenital schistosomiasis is now permanently established in Corsica since its first emergence in 2013. The local persistence of the tropical pathogens (schistosomes) responsible for urogenital schistosomiasis at such latitudes might be explained by (i) the presence of its intermediate host, the snail Bulinus truncatus, (ii) the recurrent local reseeding of schistosomes by their vertebrate hosts (either human or animal) every summer, and/or (iii) the maintenance and survival of schistosomes within their snail hosts over winter. In this study we conducted an ecological experiment to assess the abili…

Observaciones sobre algunos criterios tafonómicos usados en la interpretación de asociaciones malacológicas fósiles.

1984

In the present paper a revision of some taphonomic criteria commonly used in the interpretation of fossil mollusca assemblages is realized . The field work on living and death assemblages of mollusca in a shallow muddy bottom has been carried out in the coast near Denia (Alicante, Spain). Although the supposed lineal relation between specific abundance and probability of autochthony could explain the structure of part of the considered assemblages, in other a clear disagreement due to a massive incursion of youth elements in observed . By other hand, the possibility of horizontal transport not detectable by these means (anonymous alochtonic fluxes) imposes another limitation to the pretende…

Evolution and biomineralization of pteropod shells

2021

12 pages; International audience; Shelled pteropods, known as sea butterflies, are a group of small gastropods that spend their entire lives swimming and drifting in the open ocean. They build thin shells of aragonite, a metastable polymorph of calcium carbonate. Pteropod shells have been shown to experience dissolution and reduced thickness with a decrease in pH and therefore represent valuable bioindicators to monitor the impacts of ocean acidification. Over the past decades, several studies have highlighted the striking diversity of shell microstructures in pteropods, with exceptional mechanical properties, but their evolution and future in acidified waters remains uncertain. Here, we re…

Fascioliasis transmission by Lymnaea neotropica confirmed by nuclear rDNA and mtDNA sequencing in Argentina

2009

Fascioliasis is widespread in livestock in Argentina. Among activities included in a long-term initiative to ascertain which are the fascioliasis areas of most concern, studies were performed in a recreational farm, including liver fluke infection in different domestic animal species, classification of the lymnaeid vector and verification of natural transmission of fascioliasis by identification of the intramolluscan trematode larval stages found in naturally infected snails. The high prevalences in the domestic animals appeared related to only one lymnaeid species present. Lymnaeid and trematode classification was verified by means of nuclear ribosomal DNA and mitochondrial DNA marker sequ…

Síntesis de los estudios sobre moluscos continentales neógenos del sector septentrional de la Depresión de Teruel: período 1775-1998

2006

Se recopila y analiza la información que se considera más relevante y se encuentra contenida en los estudios realizados sobre el registro fósil de los moluscos neógenos del sector septentrional de la Depresión de Teruel en el período comprendido entre los años 1775 y 1998. Se contabilizan, por una parte, el número total de taxones diferentes mencionados en cada trabajo y, por otra, sólo el número de citas efectuadas a nivel de especie en cada uno de ellos. Estas últimas se organizan en tres categorías que reciben el nombre de citas nuevas, especies nuevas y citas repetidas. Se propone, a partir de la información contenida en cada trabajo, el número de taxones contemplados, y la tipología de…