The aquatic zooplankton crustacean Daphnia magna must be able to tolerate thermal stress in order to survive their native shallow ponds that are susceptible to drastic seasonal and diurnal temperature fluctuations as well as to globally increasing temperatures. Survival in such variable environments requires plastic responses that must include fundamental aspects of Daphnia biochemistry and phy...

Although members of the crustacean genus Daphnia have been the target of much research, there is little understanding of the group's evolutionary history. We addressed this gap by inferring a phylogeny for one of the major species groups (longispina) using nucleotide sequence variation of a 525-bp segment of the mitochondrial 12S rDNA and allozyme variation at 21 loci. We identified the major l...

helmet of the water flea (Daphnia spp.) does not make it invisible, but it does confer some protection against predators by making the fleas harder to catch. Water fleas do not necessarily begin life with a helmet but can form one as a morphological defence in response to chemicals released by their predators. The images above show three pairs of water fleas from different species; the non-helm...

1. We combined ecological surveys, life table studies, microscopy and molecular sequencing to determine the development, ecology, pathology and phylogeny of Polycaryum laeve, an endoparasite of cladocerans. We report the first records of P. laeve from North America, where we have used a polymerase chain reaction primer and microscopic examination to confirm infections in 14 lakes. Infections ar...

This study examines the molecular-genetic divergence and evolution of Australian aquatic micro-Crustacea Daphnia and Daphniopsis. The results indicate that species of Daphniopsis are accommodated within the genus Daphnia . Although their phyletic integrity is no longer supported, all Daphniopsis species (save one from North America) form a monophyletic group and may warrant subgeneric recogniti...

In vivo activity of cholinesterase (ChE) in Daphnia magna was measured at different time points during 21-day exposure to triazophos and chlorpyrifos ranging from 0.05 to 2.50 microg/L and 0.01 to 2.00 microg/L, respectively. For exposure to triazophos, ChE was induced up to 176.5% at 1.5 microg/L and day 10 when measured by acetylthiocholine (ATCh), whereas it was induced up to 174.2% at 0.5 m...

This paper presents parts of the results from a research project sponsored by Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (TEPA), investigating both the physical and environmental properties of asphalt mixtures using different amount of incinerator bottom ash (IBA) as fine aggregate substitution. The Marshall mix design method was used to determine the design asphalt content and evaluate the...

The waterflea Daphnia is a model to investigate the genetic basis of phenotypic plasticity resulting from one differentially expressed genome. Daphnia develops adaptive phenotypes (e.g. morphological defences) thwarting predators, based on chemical predator cue perception. To understand the genomic basis of phenotypic plasticity, the description of the precedent cellular and neuronal mechanisms...

Cladocerans of the genus Daphnia are keystone pelagic filter feeders in many temperate ponds and lakes. They have also become popular model organisms in various biological disciplines, from aquatic ecology to biomedical sciences. The crucial features that make these organisms excellent experimental models are their cyclical parthenogenetic life cycle together with easy culturing and handling. T...

Microplastic particles are ubiquitous not only in marine but also in freshwater ecosystems. However, the impacts of microplastics, consisting of a large variety of synthetic polymers, on freshwater organisms remains poorly understood. We examined the effects of two polymer mixtures on the morphology, life history and on the molecular level of the waterflea Daphnia magna (three different clones)...