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Article Excerpt
KEAN UNIVERSITY UNION, NEW JERSEY
SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2002
POSTER PRESENTATIONS
MOUTHPART DEFORMITIES IN CHIRONOMID (DIPTERA) LARVAE
Biology Department, Drew University, Madison, NJ 07940
HEATHER BERKLEY (STUDENT), LELAND W. POLLOCK
Assessing water quality in freshwater systems is an important part of ensuring the safety of organisms that depend on these sources of water. Chemical tests give an incomplete description of the amount of stress a stream experiences. Biological systems can provide information about the health of the ecosystem over time as well as how a combination of toxins affect the organisms. Chironomid larvae are very diverse as well as abundant in freshwater systems. They get exposed to pollutants both in the flowing water as well as to those stored in the sediments. Many species have shown particular susceptibility to heavy metals and organic compounds. The obvious mouthpart deformities include extra or missing teeth, asymmetries and gaps. The stream sampled, Green Pond Brook, runs through the Picatinny Arsenal which has a history of introducing heavy metals and other pollutants into the water system. The sites farthest downstream in Green Pond Brook showed mouthpart deformity rates of up to 38% compared to 5 to 8% of those from the more pristine control stream, Primrose Brook. Larvae in the subfamily Orthocladiinae and in the Chironomini tribe of Chironominae showed much higher rates of deformity than subfamily Tanypodinae or the Tanytarsini tribe of Chironominae. Looking for deformities in chironomid communities first and then conducting chemical tests as needed can be a much easier and less expensive method of conducting water quality assessments.
ASSESSMENT OF BLUE MUSSEL RECRUITMENT AND POPULATION DYNAMICS IN A COASTAL NEW JERSEY ESTUARY
PAUL BOLOGNA, MICHELLE FETZER, ERIN MOODY, SEAN MCDONNELL
Department of Biological and Allied Health Sciences Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, NJ 07940
Coastal marine seagrass ecosystems are extremely important as nursery grounds for many commercially and recreationally important species. Additionally, they serve to dampen wave energy, reduce water velocity and stabilize sediments. We investigated the recruitment and population dynamics of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey during 2001. Recruitment assessment indicated that blue mussels settle in late spring at densities greater than 100,000 [m.sup.-2]. Subsequent to this recruitment event, high densities of the sea star (Asterias forbesii) entered the system and began to significantly reduce population density by two orders of magnitude by the end of the summer. A community level assessment showed a significant positive relationship between mussel aggregations and sea star densities, in which sea stars were observed to be actively feeding. Given this high mussel density and the significant predation by sea stars, there appears to be a significant benthic-pelagic coupling in this syst em, which may contribute significantly to the high secondary production in these grass beds.
ROTENONE GENERATED NEURONAL ATROPHY: A CELLULAR MODEL FOR LEWY BODY FORMATION
CARRIE LYNNE CAMPANA (STUDENT) AND ROGER B. KNOWLES, PH.D.
Biology Department, Drew University, Madison, NJ 07940
Lewy bodies are a pathology of dementia with Lewy bodies disease, Parkinson's disease, and the Lewy body variant of Alzheimer's disease. Lewy bodies are intracellular inclusions composed of approximately fifty proteins, including the protein alpha-synuclein. Because mutations in the gene for alpha-synuclein can lead to early-onset Parkinson's disease, some have suggested a mechanistic role for alpha-synuclein in the formation of Lewy bodies. Other research suggests that the pesticide rotenone could be involved in the formation of Lewy bodies. We tested the hypothesis that exposure to rotenone would lead to aggregation of alpha-synuclein in cultured rat embryonic cortical neurons. Furthermore, we tested whether this aggregation would precede axonal and dendritic deterioration and cell death. First, we found that neuronal death increased in a concentration-dependent manner with increasing doses of rotenone. Second, we found that the number of long axons and dendrites on neurons decreased the longer we exposed the neurons to rotenone. Lastly, we have found an increase in the amount of alpha-synuclein in the neurons as both the time and concentration of rotenone exposure increased. Qualitative observations, however, did not confirm that aggregation of alpha-synuclein occurred prior to deterioration of neurons. These results suggest that exposure to rotenone can generate Lewy body-like changes in an in vitro neuronal model.
EFFECTS OF STREAM DISCONTINUITY ON GENETIC DIVERSITY OF BLACKNOSE DACE, RHINICHTHYS ATRATULUS
AMY CAVANAUGH (STUDENT), MELANIE LENAHAN
Biology Department, Drew University, Madison, NJ 07940
PETER FAUTH
Biology Department, Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY
PAUL CABE
Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA
Discontinuous streams are streams that flow along their path partially above and partially below ground. The result is a series of disconnected running water pools. Fish populations, which cannot transcend the dry barriers between pools, are isolated, thus creating conditions which may lead to a loss of genetic diversity. Populations of blacknose dace, Rhinchthys atratulus, were sampled from both continuous and discontinuous streams in George Washington National Forest in western Virginia. Inter simple sequence repeat PCR was used to determine the degree of polymorphism in each population. Preliminary results show that there is a marked difference between populations in the banding patterns generated with a simple sequence repeat primer. At this time, there is no data to suggest that there is a significant difference in genetic diversity between populations from continuous streams and populations from discontinuous streams.
SURVIVAL OF FECAL INDICATOR ORGANISMS IN GOOSE FECES
NICOLE CHESLA (STUDENT), MASSIEL DELACRUZ AND JUNE MIDDLETON
Department of Biology, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, NJ 07940
Geese have established large resident populations in parks of Northern New Jersey. Goose droppings contribute to the decreased quality of both open areas and surface waters in these parks. Fecal indicator organisms, E.coli and enterococci, are present in goose droppings. We were interested in determining how long these potential pathogens survive in goose feces. Fresh goose feces were collected from two sites in Morris County, NJ. Duplicate samples were divided asceptically into five aliquots and incubated under either moist or dry conditions at 8C, 16C, 22C, 30C and 35C. Samples were plate counted on EMB and m-Enterococcus agar at 44.5C on days 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, 21 and 30 to enumerate fecal coliforms and enterococci. Initial counts of both E.coli and fecal enterococci were about [10.sup.2]/gram but increased dramatically under permissive moisture and temperature conditions, reaching...
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