Welcome to the 31st IUBS General Assembly and Conference on ...

Plants are used in <strong>the</strong> modern era for <strong>the</strong> extraction <strong>and</strong>
development of drugs <strong>and</strong> a large number of patients rely
on medicinal herbs. Jatropha tanjorensisisis a herbaceous
plant of Euphorbiaceae family <strong>and</strong> it shows
intermediacy in phenotypic characters between
J.gossypifolia<strong>and</strong> J.curcas. It is commonly called hospital
<strong>to</strong>o far, catholic vegetable, iyana‐ipaja <strong>and</strong> lapalapa. It is
used for fencing, as an edible leafy vegetable <strong>and</strong> as
medicine.
Tank‐raised Clarias gariepinus (mean <strong>to</strong>tal length 28.39 ±
0.33 cm SE; mean weight, 99.34 ± 2.48g SE) were
obtained were obtained locally from a commercial fish
farm <strong>and</strong> transferred <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> Animal <strong>and</strong> Environmental
Biology Research Labora<strong>to</strong>ry, Delta State University,
Abraka where <strong>the</strong>y were held in large plastic aquaria of
140L capacity with clean borehole water. They were <strong>the</strong>n
acclimatized for 14 days, during which time <strong>the</strong>y were fed
with commercial fish feed pellets (Coppens) twice daily.
Fresh leaves of J. tanjorensis were obtained locally on
campus. They were air‐dried for 2 weeks <strong>and</strong> later
oven‐dried for 3 hours, after which <strong>the</strong>y were ground <strong>to</strong>
fine powder <strong>and</strong> dissolved in distilled water. The solution
was evaporated <strong>to</strong> dryness using a rotary evapora<strong>to</strong>r.
Five test concentrations (2.0, 4.0, 6.0, 8.0 <strong>and</strong> 10.0g/L)
were prepared by serial dilution for injection in<strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong>
fish. 2mL of <strong>the</strong> solution was injected intramuscularly <strong>to</strong>
<strong>the</strong> fish. Blood samples were obtained from <strong>the</strong> caudal
circulation after 96hours <strong>and</strong> used for <strong>the</strong> measurement
of haema<strong>to</strong>crit, haemoglobin concentration<strong>and</strong> red blood
cell counts. Empirical data of <strong>the</strong> results obtained were
subjected <strong>to</strong> statistical analysis using one‐way analysis of
variance (ANOVA) <strong>to</strong> test for level of significance between
<strong>the</strong> various concentrations of J. tanjorensis injected
intramuscularly.
The haema<strong>to</strong>logical values of haemoglobin (HB),
haema<strong>to</strong>crit (Hct), <strong>and</strong> red blood cell (RBC) in <strong>the</strong>
injected fish were significantly lower (P< 0.05) than <strong>the</strong>
control while <strong>the</strong> Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Mean
Corpuscular Haemoglobin (MCH) <strong>and</strong> Mean Corpuscular
Haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) were significantly
higher (P< 0.05) in <strong>the</strong> injected fish than <strong>the</strong> control.
This study highlights <strong>the</strong> fact that acute concentrations of
aqueous extracts of J. tanjorensis have moderate
deleterious consequences on <strong>the</strong> haema<strong>to</strong>logical
parameters of C. gariepinus.
Advances in studies on <strong>the</strong> res<strong>to</strong>ration of a
salt lake ecosystem by introducing Artemia
in Tibet
Shasha LIU, Qinxian JIA, Xifang LIU, Xinsheng
NIU <strong>and</strong> Mianping ZHENG
MLR Key Labora<strong>to</strong>ry of Saline Lake Resources <strong>and</strong>
Environments, Institute of Mineral Resources, CAGS, Beijing
100037, China. Email: liushashajida@163.com
There are a lot of salt lakes in Tibet, some of which are
enclosed by steep mountains <strong>and</strong> thus develop in<strong>to</strong>
relatively restricted environments. It is difficult for <strong>the</strong>m
<strong>to</strong> exchange with outside drainage basins, which results in
low biodiversity <strong>and</strong> a single lower trophic level. In order
<strong>to</strong> promote <strong>the</strong> salt lake ecosystem biodiversity <strong>and</strong>
protect <strong>the</strong> fragile ecological environment suffered from
stress of economic growth in nor<strong>the</strong>rn Tibet, <strong>the</strong> studies
of introduced organisms with higher trophic levels <strong>and</strong>
certain economic value was implemented. Dangxiong Co
salt lake, our preferred experimental site, is surrounded
on 3 sides by steep mountains <strong>and</strong> its eco‐isl<strong>and</strong> effect is
obvious. After <strong>the</strong> argument of ecological risks <strong>and</strong>
simulated experiment of ecological effects during 2003
<strong>and</strong> 2004. In 2004, we introduced 850 g Artemia cysts
in<strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> lake <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>y <strong>the</strong>n formed relatively stable
natural populations, which perfected <strong>the</strong> local ecosystem
through bringing in numbers of waterfowl in 2009. At
present we report <strong>the</strong> research progress up <strong>to</strong> 2011.
The data of 25 sites was collected during <strong>the</strong> period
ofOc<strong>to</strong>ber–November. Based on data analysis of different
water layers, <strong>the</strong> Artemia polypides <strong>and</strong> cysts distributed
mainly in <strong>the</strong> surface water layer of 0.0–0.2m, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>
average biomass was 1.146×10 3 ind•m ‐2 <strong>and</strong> 2.590×10 4
ind•m ‐2 respectively, <strong>the</strong> ratio were 24.62% <strong>and</strong> 30.81%
respectively in <strong>the</strong> water column biomass. Biomass
decreased continuously with increasing depth in
middle‐layer water <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> average biomass of polypides
(2.0–8.0m) <strong>and</strong> cysts (2.0–10.0m) was only 2.969×10 2
ind•m ‐2 <strong>and</strong> 5.958×10 3 ind•m ‐2 respectively, which
accounted for 25.52% <strong>and</strong> 28.36% respectively in <strong>the</strong>
water column biomass. However, a slightly increasing
trend in <strong>the</strong> 10–12m deep‐layer water was shown. Few
polypide <strong>and</strong> cyst distributed in <strong>the</strong> water layer on
sediment over 12m in depth. The horizontal distribution
characteristics of polypides <strong>and</strong> cysts in Dangxiong Co
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