選擇卷期
- 期刊
The main focus of this study has been on the distinctive prespawning snout-gripping behaviors and mate choice of two moray species (Gymnothorax pictus and G. thyrsoideus). The behavior of snout-gripping means that the male grips the female’s snout with its jaws. It is the most distinctive behavior to confirm the success of mating pair formation naturally and was rarely described on moray eels or other coral reef fishes. The reproductive behaviors of the two moray species were also first observed and photographed in the laboratory aquaria. Over 22 reproductive events including 9 spawning events by 28 adult individuals of G. pictus were recorded. Eight sequential behaviors were recorded in the successful spawning events of G. pictus searching, courting, inviting, snout-gripping, rushing toward the water surface, turning around, spawning, separating and settling to the bottom. G. thyrsoideus also exhibited similar pre-spawning behaviors as G. pictus, but showed more aggressive behaviors between the males than G. pictus. Courtships and mating affairs occurred about 23 times by 32 adult individuals of G. thyrsoideus, but without spawning. Both species mated mainly between a female and a male at night (8:00PM-2:00AM). It only took a shorter time for G. pictus to go from snout-gripping to spawning (3-7 seconds), but a longer time for G. thyrsoideus to go from snout-gripping to separating (35-43 seconds).
- 期刊
This paper describes the application of a coupled surge-wave model for simulating storm surge and wave along Taiwan coast. The simulations were conducted with an integrated surge-wave modeling system using a large coastal model domain wrapped around the island of Taiwan, with a grid resolution of 50-400 m. Simulations were made with tide only, with wind and tide, and with tide and wind and wave. The first part of the paper describes the hindcasting of historical typhoons. Hindcasting of Soudelor in 2015 revealed the significant effect of waves on storm surge when wave exceeded 11 m. Both the water level and wave were well simulated by the surge-wave model. The second part of the paper describes the forecasting of typhoons in 2016 With a focus on typhoon Napartak and Megi to examine the reliability, accuracy, and efficiency of the protopype forecasting system for Taiwan coast. The system uptime is estimated at 78% during the three months of operations. While the tide prediction has about 3-10% error (relative root-mean-square-error), the water level prediction error increases from 5.8-13.5% for now cast to 9.8-17.4% for 6-hour forecast, 11.4-18.2% for 12-hour forecast, and 20.3-31.4% for 24-hour forecast. The forecast error increases quickly for 24-hour forecast, due to the quick decline of typhoon track/intensity forecast accuracy beyond 24 hours. The forecasting system is run using an Intel-based PC with the Intel^® Core^(TM) i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40 Ghz (4 cores/8 threads) with 32GB RAM. Wall time varies between 0.8 and 1.8 hours.
- 期刊
Many marine organisms have developed the capability of producing unique metabolites and thus are highly likely to contain anti-infective agents. This study was conducted to investigate extracts of three seaweeds (Caulerpa racemosa, Caulerpa sertularioides, Kappaphycus alvarezii), two soft corals (Lobophytum microlobulatum, Sarcophyton auritum) and a marine sponge (Spheciospongia vagabunda) collected from Malaysian coast for antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral and cytotoxic activities. The samples were subjected to sequential solvent extraction in order to obtain hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, ethanol, methanol and water extracts. The antibacterial and antifungal activities were studied using a colorimetric broth microdilution method. The hexane extract of L. microlobulatum had the strongest antibacterial activity and exhibited the lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (0.04 mg/mL) and minimum bactericidal concentration (0.08 mg/mL) against Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus, respectively. For antifungal activity, the lowest MIC and minimum fungicidal concentration values were produced by the hexane extract of S. auritum against the dimorphic yeast Cryptococcus neoformans, both with 0.04 mg/mL. None of the extracts were active against the filamentous fungus Aspergillus fumigatus. Only the hexane and ethanol extracts of L. microlobulatum and the ethyl acetate extract of S. auritum exhibited strong inhibition on the cytopathic effect induced by the Chikungunya virus (a re-emerging mosquito-borne virus) with 50% effective concentrations of 14.3 ± 0.2, 124.3 ± 1.9 and 176.6 ± 9.7 μg/mL, respectively. Extracts from the two soft corals, L. microlobulatum and S. auritum possessed stronger antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral activities compared to the seaweeds and the sponge.
- 期刊
The proximate composition, pH, free amino acids, ammonia and nucleotide-related compounds of raw abalone, commercial processed abalone and abalone analogues were investigated. Taurine was the dominant free amino acid (FAA), accounting for 61.4% of the total FAA in raw hybrid abalone and 29.9% in processed abalone. Abalone analogue products had a high amount of free amino acids, but only 0.3-2.5% taurine. The proximate composition and pH value of abalone changed only slightly after blanching and processing, while the taurine and glycogen content decreased by 50%. FAA profiles were significantly different between commercial processed abalone and analogue products, both of which had lower levels of taurine and arginine than raw abalone. Abalone analogue product made from fish surimi contained large amounts of proline and glycine, accounting for 53.9% of FAA. The profiles of adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) related compounds, which were introduced as flavor additives during processing, were different between commercial processed abalone and abalone analogue products.