Search

Few protistan grazers feed on toxic dinoflagellates, and low grazing pressure on toxic dinoflagellates allows these dinoflagellates to form red-tide patches. We explored the feeding ecology of the newly described heterotrophic dinoflagellate Gyrodinium moestrupii when it fed on toxic strains of Alexandrium minutum, Alexandrium tamarense, and Karenia brevis and on nontoxic strains of A. tamarense, Prorocentrum minimum, and Scrippsiella trochoidea. Specific growth rates of G. moestrupii feeding on each of these dinoflagellates either increased continuously or became saturated with increasing mean prey concentration. The maximum specific growth rate of G. moestrupii feeding on toxic A. minutum (1.60/d) was higher than that when feeding on nontoxic S. trochoidea (1.50/d) or P. minimum (1.07/d). In addition, the maximum growth rate of G. moestrupii feeding on the toxic strain of A. tamarense (0.68/d) was similar to that when feeding on the nontoxic strain of A. tamarense (0.71/d). Furthermore, the maximum ingestion rate of G. moestrupii on A. minutum (2.6 ng C/grazer/d) was comparable to that of S. trochoidea (3.0 ng C/grazer/d). Additionally, the maximum ingestion rate of G. moestrupii on the toxic strain of A. tamarense (2.1 ng C/grazer/d) was higher than that when feeding on the nontoxic strain of A. tamarense (1.3 ng C/grazer/d). Thus, feeding by G. moestrupii is not suppressed by toxic dinoflagellate prey, suggesting that it is an effective protistan grazer of toxic dinoflagellates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preparation of AcA-stabilized Ag nanoparticles and its application to make highly conductive thin films are reported. The AcA-stabilized Ag nanoparticles were prepared through a ligand exchange of original oleylamine (OLA)-coated Ag nanoparticles with acrylic acid (AcA), which acted as both an antisolvent and a modifying ligand during the ligand exchange process. Efficiencies of the ligand exchange as well as the properties of Ag nanoparticles were analyzed using various techniques including TEM, FT-IR, XPS, TGA, and UV-vis methods. The thin films were fabricated by annealing spin-coated AcA-stabilized Ag nanoparticles. Further, the effects of annealing temperature, time, and film thickness on both the film morphology and electrical conductivity have been investigated. In this work, due to the low boiling temperature of stabilizer (AcA) and adjustment of annealing conditions, high electrical conductivity was obtained for the Ag thin films. For example, when annealing at 175 °C for 30 min, a 70 nm thick film showed a maximum electrical conductivity of 1.12 × 10(5) S cm(-1). A conductive layer on a flexible polymer substrate (e.g., PET) sheet has been successfully prepared by annealing a spin-coated film at 140 °C for 30 min. The combined advantages of long-term stability of the AcA-stabilized Ag nanoparticles, low annealing temperature, and high conductivity of the prepared thin films make this relatively simple method attractive for applications in flexible electronics.