but then leaves us with the vague and unsatisfying conclusion: “The influence of temperature on unionoids is thus pervasive and complicated, so it is not easy to specify the optimal thermal regime for a unionoid” (p. 55). This is mostly a writing style issue, but it does tend to overstate somewhat the extent of our ignorance about several topics in mussel ecology. Part II also contains a number...

Novel photolabile amphiphiles containing thioxanthone-based fluorogenic caging groups are developed. Photoinduced fragmentation in dithiane-thioxanthone adducts was demonstrated to occur with 100% quantum efficiency at λ ~ 320 nm and more than 50% at λ ~ 360 nm. A plausible mechanism involves homolytic fission of a carbon-carbon single bond in the excited thioxanthone followed by disproportiona...

Spatial and temporal control of molecular mechanisms can be achieved using photolabile bonds that connect biomolecules to protective caging groups, which can be cleaved upon irradiation of a specific wavelength, releasing the biomolecule ready-to-use. Here we apply and improve a previously reported strategy to tightly control in vitro transcription reactions. The strategy involves two caging mo...

Caged organic fluorophores are established tools for localization-based super-resolution imaging. Their use relies on reversible deactivation of standard organic fluorophores by chemical reduction or commercially available caged dyes with ON switching of the fluorescent signal by ultraviolet (UV) light. Here, we establish caging of cyanine fluorophores and caged rhodamine dyes, i.e., chemical d...

We consider a known model that describes formation of mussel beds on soft sediments. The model consists of nonlinearly coupled pdes that capture evolution of mussel biomass on the sediment and algae in the water layer overlying the mussel bed. The system accounts for the diffusive spread of mussel, while the diffusion of algae is neglected and at the same time the tidal flow of the water is con...

Mussels are commonly used in cooking around the world. The mussel shell breaks more easily than other shells, and the edge of the broken mussel shell is sharp. Impaction can ultimately cause erosion, perforation and fistula. Aside from these complications, the pain can be very intense. Therefore, it is essential to verify and remove the shell as soon as possible. In this report we describe the ...

This experimental microcosm study reports the influence of organic enrichments by mussel biodeposits on the metabolic activity and functional diversity of benthic prokaryotic communities. The different biodeposit enrichment regimes created, which mimicked the quantity of faeces and pseudo-faeces potentially deposited below mussel farms, show a clear stimulatory effect of this organic enrichment...

We reviewed the scientific literature addressing physiological constraints of zebra mussel and found seven studies that measured the effects of water calcium concentrations (mg/l, hereafter Ca) on zebra mussel development and growth (Jones and Ricciardi 2005, Allen and Ramcharan 2001, Hincks and Mackie 1997, Mellina and Rasmussen 1994, Ramcharan et al 1992, Strayer 1991, Sprung 1987). A 95% con...