The response of seagrass (<i>Posidonia oceanica</i>) meadow metabolism to CO₂ levels and hydrodynamic exchange determined with aquatic eddy covariance

We investigated light, water velocity, and CO2 as drivers of primary production in Mediterranean seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) meadows and neighboring bare sands using the aquatic eddy covariance technique. Study locations included an open-water meadow and a nearshore meadow, the nearshore meadow being exposed to greater hydrodynamic exchange. A third meadow was located at a CO2 vent. We found that, despite the oligotrophic environment, the meadows had a remarkably high metabolic activity, up to 20 times higher than the surrounding sands. They were strongly autotrophic, with net production half of gross primary production. Thus, P. oceanica meadows are oases of productivity in an unproductive environment. Secondly, we found that turbulent oxygen fluxes above the meadow can be significantly higher in the afternoon than in the morning at the same light levels. This hysteresis can be explained by the replenishment of nighttime-depleted oxygen within the meadow during the morning. Oxygen depletion and replenishment within the meadow do not contribute to turbulent O2 flux. The hysteresis disappeared when fluxes were corrected for the O2 storage within the meadow and, consequently, accurate metabolic rate measurements require measurements of meadow oxygen content. We further argue that oxygen-depleted waters in the meadow provide a source of CO2 and inorganic nutrients for fixation, especially in the morning. Contrary to expectation, meadow metabolic activity at the CO2 vent was lower than at the other sites, with negligible net primary production.

beta-Adrenergic dilator effects in consecutive vascular sections of skeletal muscle

Humoral and neurogenic beta-adrenergic dilatation that influenced the resistance function, the capillary exchange function, and to some extent the capacitance function was demonstrated in the vascular bed of cat skeletal muscle. The beta-adrenergic effects were mainly confined to the microcirculation, causing dilatation of the precapillary sphincters and the resistance vessels of small calibre. The microcirculatory effects were pronounced in response to epinephrine, but blood-borne and nerve-released norepinephrine also evoked marked effects. The beta-adrenergic inhibition of vascular tone in the microcirculation may serve in the intact organism to improve tissue nutrition by facilitating capillary diffusion exchange. It further seems to regulate transcapillary hydrodynamic exchange, partly by controlling the precapillary sphincters and the capillary hydrostatic pressure. The blood-borne catecholamines, especially epinephrine, also markedly affected total regional vascular resistance and thereby blood flow by dilator interaction with the concomitant alpha-adrenergic vasoconstrictor response.