Cephalopods such as Euprymna berryi play vital ecological roles and hold potential for aquaculture, yet their development in the South China Sea remains understudied. This study aimed to verify the species identity of E. berryi from Sanya, Hainan, using diagnostic morphology supported by molecular markers and to elucidate its embryonic development to inform marine science and aquaculture. Specimens collected from Hongsha coastal waters underwent morphological examination (mantle shape, arm formula, beak structure, ovarian anatomy) and molecular sequencing (COI, 12S rRNA, 18S rRNA), with phylogenetic trees constructed using maximum likelihood in MEGA 11. Embryonic development was observed at 27–28 °C, with hatching rates and environmental effects analyzed via ANOVA and generalized additive models in R. Diagnostic morphology, together with COI and 12S rRNA placement, supported the assignment of the specimens to E. berryi, with bootstrap support values of 100% and 88%, respectively. Hatching began on Day 20, and the monitored egg set reached a final cumulative hatching rate of 97.26% by Day 27. Capsule removal was associated with earlier hatching endpoints, and many hatchlings retained yolk sacs. High mortality occurred during qualitative feeding observations with Artemia nauplii; diet quality was not tested. This study provides a documented developmental baseline for E. berryi in the South China Sea and demonstrates that incubation conditions critically influence embryogenesis and hatching success. The identified nutritional bottleneck highlights the need for optimized first-feed protocols to improve juvenile survival and advance captive rearing efforts for this promising aquaculture species.
Camellia tuxingsunii (Theaceae), a new species of sect. Camellia from central Yunnan, Southwest China, is described and illustrated. The species is distinguished by its relatively small leaves, flowers and fruits, and may represent one of the smallest-flowered species currently known in sect. Camellia. It is currently known from dry open forests and thickets on mountain slopes at elevations of 1300–1400 m in Xinping County, on the margin of the Yuanjiang dry–hot valley. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic analysis based on complete plastid genome sequences reveals that sect. Camellia is not monophyletic. C. tuxingsunii falls within the southwestern Chinese clade of sect. Camellia and is most closely related to C. mairei and C. omeiensis. Morphologically, however, it most closely resembles C. saluenensis. Its ecology and potential threats are discussed. Following IUCN Red List categories and criteria, the species is preliminarily assessed as Data Deficient (DD), as comprehensive surveys across its potential distribution range have not yet been completed.
Food availability can affect growth, space use, and behavior of individuals. We examined sex-based effects of experimentally provisioned prey on growth rates, home ranges, and behavior of Sceloporus woodi in southern Florida. We provided supplemental crickets, comparing home range and core area size, growth rates, and behavioral profiles of individuals on supplemented and control plots. Control males had larger home ranges than females, but the sexes did not differ on food-supplemented plots. Core area size did not differ with either sex or treatment. Males and females on control plots did not differ in growth rates, but on supplemented plots females grew several times faster than males (mass and SVL). Supplemental food also led to sex differences in movement rates and habitat use. On supplemented plots, males moved at a 4× higher rate than females, but habitat use did not differ by sex. By contrast, on control plots, movement rates did not differ, but habitat use did: females spent more time on the ground, and males spent more time off the ground. We did not detect any other behavioral differences. The relatively high growth and low movement rates of supplemented females underscore the importance of sex-based foraging and reproductive tradeoffs that affect the way in which individuals grow and arrange themselves spatially.
Whether the leaf economics spectrum (LES) and its trait correlations operate at the intraspecific level, and how light versus soil nutrients are associated with leaf traits, remain unclear in stress-tolerant island plants. We quantified leaf morphological, anatomical, and LES traits of Eurya emarginata across four island populations and evaluated their associations with field-measured light availability (canopy density) and soil conditions; a shading experiment was used to test light-driven plasticity directly. Across field populations, leaf anatomical traits showed greater variability than LES traits (Kruskal–Wallis, p = 0.001). Most leaf trait pairs were correlated at the metapopulation level, whereas within local island populations many of these correlations became non-significant; this pattern may reflect smaller sample sizes and narrower trait ranges within islands as well as possible biological decoupling. Redundancy analysis indicated that canopy density was the main variable associated with leaf morphological and anatomical trait variation, whereas soil nutrients were the main variables associated with LES trait variation. The shading experiment confirmed that reduced light availability altered structural and photosynthetic traits. Our results show that light and soil conditions are associated with different trait groups, and that trait associations are scale-dependent. We conclude that intraspecific leaf trait variation in island populations is context-dependent, with anatomical traits varying more than LES traits, and that trait correlations observed at broad scales are not necessarily maintained within local populations.
Vallisneria spinulosa Yan (V. spinulosa Yan), as a submerged macrophyte and herbal plant, simultaneously exhibits ecological restoration functions in water bodies and medicinal value. However, it cannot be efficiently planted and cultivated in turbid water bodies. Enclosure cultivation technology can solve this issue in real ecological engineering, and enclosure area is an important parameter. The impact of enclosure area on growth characteristics, water purification, and microbial communities of the V. spinulosa Yan growth system in the enclosure cultivation process was studied, with planting density (50 plants·m−2) and soil volume per pot kept constant. The results showed that enclosure area primarily shifted biomass allocation: aboveground biomass decreased, and belowground biomass increased with increasing enclosure area, with the root-to-shoot ratio rising from 0.449 (A1, 1 × 1 m enclosure area) to 1.013 (A16, 4 × 4 m enclosure area). Total biomass, leaf number, soluble protein, and soluble sugar did not differ significantly among treatments. Leaf length was significantly greatest in A1. Notably, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and total chlorophyll were significantly lowest in the A4 (2 × 2 m enclosure area) treatment, while SOD (superoxide dismutase) activity was highest in A1 and POD (peroxidase) activity was lowest in A1, all surviving global multiple-comparison correction. Nutrient removal loads (TN, nitrate nitrogen, TP, and PO43−-P) were significantly higher in planted treatments than in the unplanted control, but pairwise comparisons among planted treatments showed no significant differences. Furthermore, A1 exhibited significantly higher TP (total phosphorus) and PO43−-P (phosphate) removal loads than the other planted treatments, and its TN (total nitrogen) removal load was significantly higher than that of A9 (3 × 3 m enclosure area). Overall, enclosure area primarily shifted biomass allocation and induced complex physiological responses, without uniformly improving growth or water purification performance. This study can provide valuable references for efficient cultivation of submerged macrophytes and enhancing water purification effects in real ecological engineering.
