Sinocyclocheilus sanxiaensis, a new blind fish from the Three Gorges of Yangtze River provides insights into speciation of Chinese cavefish.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Jiang WS
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6822930 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Dams have well-documented ecological impacts on downstream river segments; however, long-term impacts of river impoundment have rarely been investigated in upstream reaches. Using data from long-term standardized surveys, we analyzed temporal changes in fish assemblages in the Yangtze River upstream of the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) before, during and after its construction. Our analysis indicated fish assemblage regime shifts in the two closer reaches in 2008, in accordance with the filling to 172.5 m in 2008; and in the other reach, farthest from the TGD, in 2011, indicating timing of the effects being related to distance. These shifts were evident in relative abundance of native fish species rather than non-native species and have altered community structures and functional groups. Relative abundance of the lotic guilds declined in the two closer reaches, but increased in the farthest. Invertivores declined, but piscivores and opportunistic life-history strategists increased in all reaches. We conclude that construction of TGD had led to significant changes in species distributions influenced by species functional traits. Our findings emphasize the need for long-term monitoring of fish assemblages before and after dam construction in order to understand ecological responses to hydrological changes for effective resource management in regulated rivers.
| S-EPMC6414653 | biostudies-literature
Project description:While most large river-deltas in the world are facing the risk of subsidence and erosion in the Anthropocene, it is suspected that the Changjiang submerged delta (CSD) could be subjected to the impacts of the world's largest dam, the Three Gorges Dam (TGD). Here we firstly indicate that the CSD went through high accumulation (1958-1978); slight accumulation (1978-1997), slight erosion (1997-2002); and high accumulation (2002-2009), despite the 70% reduction of the sediment load from upstream since the operation of the TGD in 2003. Meanwhile, at the depocenter of the submerged delta, the accumulation maintained a high rate of 10 cm/yr during 1958-2009. This suggests on a longer term, the distal sediment source from the upstream had little effect on the CSD. Within this time frame the changes in the partition of sediment load among the branching channels of the Changjiang Estuary could likely control the shifting of the depocenter of the CSD on a decadal time scale. Episodic extreme floods and storm surges also increased the magnitude of deposition and erosion of the CSD on short-term scales. A re-evaluation of the impacts of TGD on the CSD is urgently needed.
| S-EPMC5377575 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC10415761 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:An "integrated control" strategy has been implemented within seven provinces at highest risk for schistosomiasis along Yangtze River in Peoples' Republic of China (P. R. China) since 2004. Since Oncomelania hupensis is the only intermediate host of the blood fluke (Schistosoma japonicum), controlling the distribution of snails is considered an essential and effective way to reduce the risk of schistosomiasis infection. The study aimed to determine the snail area burden and annual trend among provinces with potential risk for schistosomiasis along the Yangtze River, above and below the Three Gorges Dam (TGD). METHODS:This retrospective study utilized data previously collected from the National Parasitic Diseases Control Information Management System (NPDCIMS) on annual snail surveys from 2009 to 2017. Descriptive statistics were performed for analyzing the snail burden by provinces, counties, type of environmental location and year, and mapping was conducted to present the snails distribution. RESULTS:From 2009 to 2017, the total snail infested area decreased by 4.22%, from 372 253 hm2 to 356 553 hm2 within the seven high risk provinces. The majority of snails were found in the marshland and lake regions, outside of control embankments. The total snail burden trend remained relatively stable in upstream regions above the TGD from 2010 to 2015, while the trend decreased within downstream regions during this period. In 2016 and 2017, the total snail burden trend increased in both upstream and downstream provinces, however, upstream saw a larger increase. From 2009 to 2017, there were a total of 5990 hm2 of newly developed snail areas in the seven study provinces and the majority were concentrated in regions below the TGD, accounting for 5610 hm2 (93.70%). CONCLUSIONS:There has been a decline in total snail counts from 2009 to 2017. Meanwhile, new snail breeding areas were formed mainly within provinces downstream the TGD due to spread of snails, indicated that the oncomelanid snail would be difficult to completely eliminate. We suggest that the national schistosomiasis integrated control strategy, including mollusciding and environmental modification, will need to be enhanced significantly going forward to achieve a greater reduction in snail burden and ultimately to achieve elimination.
| S-EPMC6580481 | biostudies-other
Project description:Fish reproductive patterns are very diverse in terms of breeding frequency, mating system, sexual dimorphisms and selection, mate choice, spawning site choice, courtship patterns, spawning behaviors and parental care. Here we have compared the breeding behavior of the surface-dwelling and cave-dwelling morphs of the characiform A. mexicanus, with the goals of documenting the spawning behavior in this emerging model organism, its possible evolution after cave colonization, and the sensory modalities involved. Using infrared video recordings, we showed that cave and surface Astyanax spawning behavior is identical, occurs in the dark, and can be divided into 5 rapid phases repeated many times, about once per minute, during spawning sessions which last about one hour and involve one female and several males. Such features may constitute "pre-adaptive traits" which have facilitated fish survival after cave colonization, and may also explain how the two morphs can hybridize in the wild and in the laboratory. Accordingly, cross-breeding experiments involving females of one morphotype and males of the other morphotype showed the same behavior including the same five phases. However, breeding between cavefish females and surface fish males was more frequent than the reverse. Finally, cavefish female pheromonal solution was able to trigger strong behavioral responses in cavefish males-but not on surface fish males. Lastly, egg production seemed higher in surface fish females than in cavefish females. These results are discussed with regards to the sensory modalities involved in triggering reproductive behavior in the two morphs, as well as its possible ongoing evolution.
| S-EPMC6382271 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The world's largest hydropower dam, the Three Gorges Dam (TGD), spans the upper Yangtze River in China, creating a 660-km long and 1.1-km wide reservoir upstream. Several recent studies reported a considerable decline in sediment load of the Lowermost Yangtze River (LmYR) and a rapid erosion in the subaqueous delta of the river mouth after the closure of the TGD in 2003. However, it is unknown if the TGD construction has also affected river channel and bed formation of the LmYR. In this study, we compared bathymetric data of the last 565 kilometers of the Yangtze River's channel between 1998 and 2013. We found severe channel erosion following the TGD closure, with local riverbed erosion up to 10 m deep. The total volume of net erosion from the 565-km channel amounted to 1.85 billion m3, an equivalent of 2.59 billion metric tons of sediment, assuming a bulk density of 1.4 t/m3 for the riverbed material. The largest erosion occurred in a 100-km reach close to the Yangtze River mouth, contributing up to 73% of the total net eroded channel volume.
| S-EPMC6085297 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In adaptating to perpetual darkness, cave species gradually lose eyes and body pigmentation and evolve alternatives for exploring their environments. Although troglodyte features evolved independently many times in cavefish, we do not yet know whether independent evolution of these characters involves common genetic mechanisms. Surface-dwelling and many cave-dwelling species make the freshwater teleost genus Sinocyclocheilus an excellent model for studying the evolution of adaptations to life in constant darkness. We compared the mature retinal histology of surface and cave species in Sinocyclocheilus and found that adult cavefish showed a reduction in the number and length of photoreceptor cells. To identify genes and genetic pathways that evolved in constant darkness, we used RNA-seq to compare eyes of surface and cave species. De novo transcriptome assemblies were developed for both species, and contigs were annotated with gene ontology. Results from cave-dwelling Sinocyclocheilus revealed reduced transcription of phototransduction and other genes important for retinal function. In contrast to the blind Mexican tetra cavefish Astyanax mexicanus, our results on morphologies and gene expression suggest that evolved retinal reduction in cave-dwelling Sinocyclocheilus occurs in a lens-independent fashion by the reduced proliferation and downregulation of transcriptional factors shown to have direct roles in retinal development and maintenance, including cone-rod homeobox (crx) and Wnt pathway members. These results show that the independent evolution of retinal degeneration in cavefish can occur by different developmental genetic mechanisms.
| S-EPMC3684860 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The blind troglobite cavefish Sinocyclocheilus rhinocerous lives in oligotrophic, phreatic subterranean waters and possesses a unique cranial morphology including a pronounced supra-occipital horn. We used a combined approach of laboratory observations and Computational Fluid Dynamics modeling to characterize the swimming behavior and other hydrodynamic aspects, i.e., drag coefficients and lateral line sensing distance of S. rhinocerous. Motion capture and tracking based on an Artificial Neural Network, complemented by a Particle Image Velocimetry system to map out water velocity fields, were utilized to analyze the motion of a live specimen in a laboratory aquarium. Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations on flow fields and pressure fields, based on digital models of S. rhinocerous, were also performed. These simulations were compared to analogous simulations employing models of the sympatric, large-eyed troglophile cavefish S. angustiporus. Features of the cavefish swimming behavior deduced from the both live-specimen experiments and simulations included average swimming velocities and three dimensional trajectories, estimates for drag coefficients and potential lateral line sensing distances, and mapping of the flow field around the fish. As expected, typical S. rhinocerous swimming speeds were relatively slow. The lateral line sensing distance was approximately 0.25 body lengths, which may explain the observation that specimen introduced to a new environment tend to swim parallel and near to the walls. Three-dimensional simulations demonstrate that just upstream from the region under the supra-occipital horn the equipotential of the water pressure and velocity fields are nearly vertical. Results support the hypothesis that the conspicuous cranial horn of S. rhinocerous may lead to greater stimulus of the lateral line compared to fish that do not possess such morphology.
| S-EPMC9312365 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In this study, we report the complete mitochondrial genome of Sinocyclocheilus ronganensis. The whole mitochondrial genome is 16,587?bp with an accession number KX778473, and consists of 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNAs, 22 transfer RNAs genes, and a 936?bp control region. Phylogenetic analysis shows that S. ronganensis is close to cave-restricted S. anophthalmus and surface-dwelling S. grahami. The complete mitogenome of S. ronganensis may provide useful information for studying the genetic mechanism of cavefish, and enrich the fish mitochondrial genome resource for further research.
| S-EPMC7800113 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Cave animals possess remarkable phenotypes associated with existence in their dark environments. The Chinese cavefish Sinocyclocheilus tileihornes shows substantial eye degeneration, a trait shared by most cave species. The extent to which independent evolution of troglomorphic traits uses convergent molecular genetic mechanisms is as yet unknown. We performed transcriptome-wide gene expression profiling in S. tileihornes eyes and compared results with those from the closely related surface species S. angustiporus and an independently derived congeneric cavefish, S. anophthalmus. In total, 52.85 million 100 bp long paired-end clean reads were generated for S. tileihornes, and we identified differentially expressed genes between the three possible pairs of species. Functional analysis of genes differentially expressed between S. tileihornes and S. angustiporus revealed that phototransduction (KEGG id: dre04744) was the most significantly enriched pathway, indicating the obvious differences in response to captured photons between the cavefish S. tileihornes and the surface species S. angustiporus. Analysis of key genes regulating eye development showed complete absence of otx5b (orthodenticle homolog 5) expression in S. tileihornes eyes, probably related to degradation of rods, but normal expression of crx (cone-rod homeobox). The enriched pathways and Otx5 are involved in phototransduction, photoreceptor formation, and regulation of photoreceptor-related gene expression. Unlike the S. tileihornes reported here, S. anophthalmus has reduced crx and otx5 expression. These results show that different species of cavefish within the same genus that independently evolved troglodyte characteristics can have different genetic mechanisms of eye degeneration.
| S-EPMC6711879 | biostudies-literature