First published online November 19, 2004
Journal of Experimental Biology 207, 4415-4425 (2004)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2004
doi: 10.1242/jeb.01290
How a low tissue O2 strategy could be conserved in early crustaceans: the example of the podocopid ostracods
Laure Corbari,
Pierre Carbonel and
Jean-Charles Massabuau*
Laboratoire d'Ecophysiologie et Ecotoxicologie, des Systèmes
Aquatiques, UMR 5805, Université Bordeaux 1 and CNRS, Place du Dr B.
Peyneau, 33120 Arcachon, France

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Fig. 1. Experimental set-up for ventilatory analysis by video recording. Animals
were free ranging in a vertical layer of natural sediment and ventilatory
activity was measured by visual inspection through the animals. Analysis was
performed under dim light by means of infra-red (IR) camera and
micro-spotlight (see text for details).
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Fig. 2. Morphofunctional anatomy of Cyprideis sp., a typical podocopid
ostracod from the Bay of Arcachon. (A) In situ picture in the
experimental micro-aquarium. Note the size of the animal in comparison to the
sand particles (sp). (B) Schematic drawing (right valve not shown)
illustrating the ventilatory flow pattern (white arrows) through the animal.
The inspired water enters from the anterior aspect and superfusates the soft
body. Ant, anterior; post, posterior; d, dorsal; v, ventral; scaphognathites,
ventilatory plates. Scale bar, 250 µm.
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Fig. 3. Ventilatory response of Cyprideis torosa to consecutive 3-day
exposure periods at reference water PO2=21 kPa,
hypoxia, PO2=3 kPa, and recovery
PO2=21 kPa. See text for details. (A,B) Typical
ventilatory pattern (fR, ventilatory frequency) in two
specimens of Cyprideis during 1 h observation periods at
PO2=21 kPa. Both activities are contrasted and
characterized by alternations of ventilatory bursts and pauses. (CE)
Ventilatory activity per hour (C; min h1), burst number per
hour (D; h1), mean ventilatory frequency within burst per
minute (E; fR, min1) at
PO2=21 and 3 kPa (grey-shaded). Each data point
(mean ± 1 S.D.) was obtained from a single podocopids,
randomly chosen and analysed during the 1 h period. The ventilatory frequency
within burst was also analysed during a 3-day recovery period (days 7 and 9)
at PO2=21 kPa (E). One symbol per individual,
N=10 animals. No significant change was observed as a function of
water PO2 and time.
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Fig. 4. Ventilatory response to 2 h exposure periods at various oxygenation levels
for all studied podocopids (N=56106 animals; same data as in
Table 2). (A) Respiratory
frequencies within bursts, fR, are given as means ±
1 S.E.M. (B) Number of apnoeic animals during each exposure period
expressed as percentages of the studied animals. No significant difference was
observed as a function of PO2.
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Fig. 5. Relationship between animal positioning (frequency distribution at
different depths shown by the grey bars; scale, lower x axis) and
O2 profiles (one symbol type per O2 profile; scale,
upper x axis) as a function of sediment depth in naturally occurring
(open and closed triangles, circles and open squares, left panel) and
experimentally manipulated O2-gradients (water column
PO2=21 or 40 kPa). Analyses were performed at
days (d) 0, 4, 7 and 11. As O2 penetration velocity varied from
core to core for the same water column, values of
PO2, O2 profiles are grouped by
similar near anoxic-zone depths (thickness, 1 mm; dotted lines) independent of
exposure time. The animal's position followed the O2 profiles, and
were independent of sediment depth and time. N is the number of
analysed cores per O2 profile penetration depth.
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Fig. 7. Ostracod morphology and gas diffusion distance in two typical podocopids.
Inset, section positioning view of A and B: a, longitudinal section, view A;
b, sagittal section, view B. (A) Longitudinal view in an Argilloecia
specimen. (B) Sagittal view in a Cyprideis specimen. The diffusion
distance between water in the domiciliar cavity and the most central tissues
never exceeds 60 µm. Ant, anterior; post, posterior; d, dorsal; v, ventral;
sc, scaphognathite. Scale bars, 100 µm.
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© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2004