Freshwater mussel species are in global decline. Anthropogenic changes of river channels and the decrease of autochthonous fish population, the natural hosts of mussels larval stages (glochidia), are the main causes. Therefore, the conservation of mussel species depends not only on habitat conservation, but also on the availability of the fish host. In Portugal, information concerning most of t...

Mussel-inspired adhesive hydrogels represent innovative candidate medical sealants or glues. In the present work, we describe an enzyme-degradable mussel-inspired adhesive hydrogel formulation, achieved by incorporating minimal elastase substrate peptide Ala-Ala into the branched poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) macromonomer structure. The system takes advantage of neutrophil elastase expression upr...

Human-derived environmental pollutants and nutrients that reach the aquatic environment through sewage effluents, agricultural and industrial processes are constantly contributing to environmental changes that serve as drivers for adaptive responses and evolutionary changes in many taxa. In this study, we examined how two types of point sources of aquatic environmental pollution, harbors and se...

A chemically activated mussel-inspired polymerization of a His-rich peptide, yielded artificial mussel glue proteins, where β-sheets can be triggered to mimic both adhesive motifs and cohesion control mechanisms the apparatus.

1. Patterns of mussel diversity and assemblage structure in the Sipsey River, Alabama, are described. Qualitative data were used to describe river-wide patterns of diversity. Quantitative data were used to describe the structure of mussel assemblages at several sites based on whole-substrate sampling that ensured all size classes were detected. 2. Major human impacts to the stream are limited t...

nature materials | VOL 7 | JANUARY 2008 | www.nature.com/naturematerials over them to make the structure planar and to separate the layers. These steps are repeated as many times as the number of desired layers. However, many challenges need to be overcome before some of the spectacular applications of metamaterials demonstrated at microwave frequencies, such as perfect lensing and optical cloa...

Saxitoxin (STX), a principal phycotoxin contributing to paralytic shellfish poisoning, is largely produced by marine microalgae of the genus Alexandrium. This toxin affects a wide range of species, inducing massive deaths in fish and other marine species. However, marine bivalves can resist and accumulate paralytic shellfish poisons. Despite numerous studies on the impact of STX in marine bival...

The selectivity of the introduced north Pacific seastar, Asterias amurensis, for different sizes of prey was investigated with the aim of predicting the impact this species will have on the age structure ofnative prey species and, thus, on their survival. The energy maximisation capabilities ofA. amurensis were assessed. The time small A. amurensis (r= 56-77 mm) spent handling the mussel Mytilu...

Studies on toxicities and tolerances of cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) in the brown alga Isochrysis galbana and in the green-lipped mussel Perna viridis were conducted by short-term bioassays using endpoints growth production and mortality, respectively. The 5-day EC(50) and 24-h LC(50) of these heavy metals were determined in the brown alga and mussel, respectively. The EC(...

Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) can be used to provide a baseline stable isotope signature, time-integrated with primary production. However, since zebra mussels are uncommon in pelagic zones, their potential as reference species in pelagic water columns has not been fully explored. By investigating mussels growing suspended on a single vertical cable in Lake Constance, we were able to doc...