WULFF, Janie L.; Florida State University: Trade-offs between resistance to competition and predation in mangrove and coral reef sponges High regional diversity of tropical marine sponges typically results from high diversity within individual habitats and a low overlap in species composition among habitats, which is generally attributed to abiotic factors. Distinctive faunas of mangrove roots […]

BOND, C.; Greensboro College: Time-Lapse Studies Of Propagated Contractions In Sponges For many years, sponge biologists have occasionally reported on slow �contractile waves� in intact sponges, but these propagated contractions remain poorly understood. Time-lapse microscopy of marine and freshwater sponges, which is reported here, provided an opportunity to re-examine these contractions. Sponge contractions were observed […]

ELLIOTT, Glen R D; LEYS, Sally P; University of Alberta; University of Alberta: Sponge Coughing: Stimulated contractions in a juvenile freshwater sponge, Ephydatia muelleri Porifera are multicellular animals that represent the most basal branch of the metazoa and are thought to have diverged from the last common ancestor of the metazoa 600 million to one […]

LAVROV, Dennis V.; LANG, B. Franz; Universite de Montreal; Universite de Montreal: Poriferan mtDNA and animal phylogeny based on mitochondrial gene arrangements Phylogenetic relationships among the 30+ animal phyla are the subject of an ongoing controversy. Analysis of mitochondrial gene arrangements is well suited to investigate these relationships, however, its previous application outside of individual […]

NICKEL, M; Stuttgart University, Germany: Long-term rhythm and functional morphology of contraction in two sponge species of the genus Tethya (Porifera, Hadromerida) The long-term contraction rhythm of T. wilhelma was investigated by digital time-lapse photography over a period of 8 days. Photographs where taken every 200 seconds. In total 3,185 photographs have been analyzed statistically […]

COLE, A.G.; HALL, B.K.; Dalhousie University; Dalhousie University: Evolution of cartilage: What have invertebrates told us? Cartilage is a tissue that is found throughout the metazoa. We will discuss the histological structure of cartilage and chondroid connective tissues from five different metazoan groups: brachiopods, polychaete annelids, cephalopod mollusks, chelicerate arthropods, and enteropneust hemichordates. From this […]

ARONOWSKY, A.; Univ. of California, Berkeley: Differences in observed and calculated predation intensities for the prey of naticid gastropods: implications for predator-prey paleoecology. Predation is posited as a driving evolutionary force in the marine realm, and a multitude of ecological and paleontological studies focus on the activities of drilling gastropods such as naticids. Naticid drillholes […]

VON DASSOW, M; Univ. of California, Berkeley: Development of a fluid transport system: An example from colonial organisms Systems that transport fluids through organisms are important for many functions (e.g. feeding, O2 transport, etc). What are the relationships between the way fluid moves through a transport system and the system’s subsequent development? Fluid flow through […]

ERWIN, P M; THACKER, R W; University of Alabama at Birmingham; University of Alabama at Birmingham: Cyanobacteria and Green Non-Sulfur Bacteria Described from Verongid Sponges: Patterns of Host-Specificity Marine sponges harbor a diverse microbial community consisting largely of uncultured bacteria that are only beginning to be described using molecular and genetic techniques. We examined the […]

PRATT, M.C.; Bowdoin College: Consequences of coloniality: the effect of flow on feeding and form in a bryozoan Colonial animals can grow in a wide variety of shapes, but certain forms have apparently evolved several times in different taxa. Various hypotheses have been put forth to explain patterns in the evolution of colony form, but […]