World Congress of Malacology Antwerp ... - Unitas Malacologica

forms in Thailand and nearby areas. While the status of these forms is uncertain, they behave as
genetically isolated species where they are in contact. Molecular data are consistent with speciation
in situ with isolation mainly due to isolated limestone habitats. Due to the paucity of available
samples, phylogenetic status of C. aurantiacus and C. turgidus remain to be examined in the future.
Biomarkers as tools to assess the risk of environmental stress for terrestrial and aquatic
gastropods
Triebskorn, Rita 1,2 ; Dittbrenner, Nils 2 ; Krais, Stefanie 2 ; Lazzara, Raimondo 2 ; Sawasdee,
Banthita 2 ; Schmidt, Lena 2 ; Köhler, Heinz-R. 2
1. Steinbeis-Transfer Center for Ecotoxicology and Ecophysiology, Blumenstr. 13,
D-72108 Rottenburg; Germany,
Email: stz.oekotox@gmx.de
2. Animal Physiological Ecology, University of Tübingen, Konrad-Adenauer-Str. 20,
D-72072 Tübingen, Germany
Not only their species richness with more than 100000 recent species, but also their importance as
environmental performance indicators emphasizes the importance of gastropod diversity to be
protected from adverse effects posed by environmental stressors including chemicals. The possible
risk of environmental pollution for organisms can be assessed using different tools in retrospective
and prospective risk assessment. The guideline ISO 15952, e.g., uses survival and reproduction of
juvenile land snails as an indicator for soil pollution. We investigated cellular and biochemical
responses in terrestrial (Deroceras reticulatum, Arion lusitanicus, Cernuella virgata, Cernuella
aginnica, Xeropicta derbentina, Theba pisana, Pomatias elegans) and aquatic gastropods (Marisa
cornuarietis) as biomarkers of effect providing information on the health of the exposed snails. The
stress protein hsp70 was shown to be a useful tool not only to trace effects of chemicals themselves
but also their interaction with confounding factors as, e.g., elevated temperature. Histological
investigations of the hepatopancreas were, in addition, suitable instruments to determine and
differentiate metabolic pathways involved in the stress response.
Scaling of metabolism of the pelagic squid Dosidicus gigas
Trueblood, Lloyd; Seibel, Brad
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston RI 02881,
USA,
Email: TRUELL@mail.uri.edu; Seibel@uri.edu
The influence of body mass on metabolic rate has been a theme in biology since its first publication
in 1883 by Max Rubner. Mass-specific rate of metabolism (B) typically declines with increasing
body mass (M) according to B= b0M b , where b0 is a normalization constant independent of mass and
b is a scaling coefficient that, according to recent theory, reflects universal geometries of oxygen and
nutrient transport systems. The value of this scaling coefficient varies in the literature, but is
commonly accepted as –0.25. Anaerobic metabolism has been shown to scale with body mass well,
but with greater variation and typically expresses a positive coefficient. Most studies examining this
phenomenon have focused on vertebrates, less is known about the scaling of invertebrate metabolism.
This study examines a pelagic squid occupying a large size range (0.1 g – 20 kg), which has been
shown to have high metabolic rates. The Ommastrephid, Dosidicus gigas was examined for oxygen
consumption (MO2 = b0M b (µM O2 g -1 h -1 )), citrate synthase activity (CS = b0Mb (units g -1 )) and
octopine dehydrogenase activity (ODH = b0Mb (units g -1 )). The scaling coefficient of aerobic
processes was notably shallower than –0.25. The result of this shallow coefficient is that large squid
have a higher metabolic rate than any reported organism of comparable size. Anaerobic metabolism
processes (ODH activity) showed a strong negative correlation to body mass as well. This unusual
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