The impact of freshwater discharges from upstream hydroelectric projects on estuarine ecology, particularly on commercial bivalves was seldom ever studied, despite the fact that they contribute substantially to local livelihoods. Such projects have been executed in many rivers of Indian Western Ghats unmindful of their ecological consequences. Through a period of the past five decades, two hydr...

Suspension-feeding bivalves are considered efficient toxin vectors with a relative insensitivity to toxicants compared to other aquatic organisms. This fact highlights the potential role of detoxification enzymes, such as glutathione transferases (GSTs), in this bivalve resistance. Nevertheless, the GST system has not been extensively described in these organisms. In the present study, cytosolic...

Eukaryotes have occasionally acquired genetic material through horizontal gene transfer (HGT). However, little is known about the evolutionary and functional significance of such acquisitions. Lysozymes are ubiquitous enzymes that degrade bacterial cell walls. Here, we provide evidence that two subclasses of bivalves (Heterodonta and Palaeoheterodonta) acquired a lysozyme gene via HGT, building...

The vertical distribution and abundance of conspicuous gastropod and bivalve species were studied at five rocky beaches in Cuastecomate Bay, Jalisco. Sampling was done from September, 1993 through March, 1994 with 0.75 m2 quadrants placed along replicate transect lines (10 m long) in the supralittoral and mesolittoral (upper, middle and lower intertidal) zones. A total of 6,643 mollusks were co...

[1] We have investigated the environmental controls of seasonally resolved records of oxygen and carbon isotopes of modern Mercenaria mercenaria bivalves collected live from five coastal sites along the east coast of North America. Seasonal profiles of dO and dC obtained by subsampling the incremental growth layers of aragonite were compared with in situ historical records of temperature and sa...

The role of bivalve mariculture in the CO2 cycle has been commonly evaluated as the balance between respiration, shell calcium carbonate sequestration and CO2 release during biogenic calcification. However, this approach neglects the ecosystem implications of cultivating bivalves at high densities, e.g. the impact on phytoplankton dynamics and benthic−pelagic coupling, which can significantly c...

In the Batna Mountains, Cenomanian Marnes de Smail Formation yield fossiliferous deposits mostly dominated by bivalves. Thirty-five bivalve species were identified, belonging to nine orders, 19 families and 26 genera. Five of them are mentioned for first time from study area (i.e., Nucula ? cf. margaritifera Douvillé, Barbatia (Barbatia) aegyptiaca Fourtau, Cucullaea trigona Seguenza, Arctica i...

The discovery of bacterium-bivalve symbioses capable of utilizing methane as a carbon and energy source indicates that the endosymbionts of hydrothermal vent and cold seep bivalves are not restricted to sulfur-oxidizing chemoautotrophic bacteria but also include methanotrophic bacteria. The phylogenetic origin of methanotrophic endosymbionts and their relationship to known symbiotic and free-li...