Biology of Hydra

456 Pages·1973·18.396 MB·English

by  Allson Burnett (Eds.)

CONTRIBUTORS
ALLISON L. BURNETT
MARSHALL N. CYRLIN
SONDRA CORFF
LOWELL E. DAVIS
FRED A. DIEHL
LE MING HANG
ROBERT E. HAUSMAN
JULIAN F. HAYNES
PHILIP G. LAMBRUSCHI
GEORGIA E. LESH-LAURIE
RALPH LOWELL
J. J. REISA
NORMAN B. RUSHFORTH
BIOLOGY OF HYDRA
Edited by ALLISON L. BURNETT
Department of Biological Sciences
Northwestern University
Evanston, Illinois
ACADEMIC PRESS New York and London 1973
A SUBSIDIARY OF HARCOURT BRACE JOVANOVICH, PUBLISHERS
COPYRIGHT © 1973, BY ACADEMIC PRESS, INC.
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LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
Numbers in parentheses indicate the pages on which the authors' contributions begin.
ALLISON L. BURNETT, Department of Biological Sciences, Northwestern
University, Evanston, Illinois (223, 239, 249, 255)
MARSHALL N. CYRLIN, Department of Biological Sciences, North-
western University, Evanston, Illinois (255)
SONDRA CORFF, Department of Anatomy, University of Pennsylvania
School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (345)
LOWELL E. DAVIS, Department of Zoology, Syracuse University,
Syracuse, New York (171, 271, 299, 319)
FRED A. DIEHL, Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Char-
lottesville, Virginia (109)
LE MING HANG, Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve Uni-
versity, Cleveland, Ohio (249)
ROBERT E. HAUSMAN, Department of Biology, University of Chicago,
Chicago, Illinois (393)
JULIAN F. HAYNES, Department of Biology, University of Maine, Orono,
Maine (43, 233)
PHILIP G. LAMBRUSCHI, Department of Biological Sciences, North-
western University, Evanston, Illinois (239)
GEORGIA E. LESH-LAURIE, Department of Biology, Case Western
Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (143)
RALPH LOWELL, Department of Biology, North Park College, Chicago,
Illinois (223, 249, 255)
Xll LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
J. J. REISA,* Department of Biological Sciences, Northwestern Uni-
versity, Evanston, Illinois and Department of Biology, Mundelein
College, Chicago, Illinois (59)
NORMAN B. RUSHFORTH, Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve
University, Cleveland, Ohio (3)
* Present address: Argon National Laboratory, Argon, Illinois.
PREFACE
For over 218 years the simple freshwater polyp Hydra has been used
as an experimental animal by biologists throughout the world. Several
books that deal with selected aspects of Hydra biology have been pub-
lished, but until the appearance of this treatise no compendium has dealt
with this polyp in such depth.
The editor has selected eight areas of Hydra biology that he feels will be
of great interest, both in content and scope, to the modern investigator.
While some of these fields are still in their infancy, others, such as the
origin of nerve cells, have been previously discussed, but never with the
authority presented in this work.
Over 2000 papers have been published on Hydra, but because of space
limitations the authors have judiciously chosen to cite only those most
pertinent to their contributions. References pertaining to higher animals
have been presented to show that Hydra may be the metazoan of choice
for experiments in ecology, neurophysiology, development, behavior, and
differentiation.
The editor would like to express thanks to the contributors. Special
thanks go to Dr. Robert Hausman, who not only proofread material but
revised bibliographies and served as a most favorable and congenial
"right-hand comrade" to the editor.
Xlll
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Dr. Paul Gerard Rose
IN MEMORIAM
Dr. Paul Rose, who was preparing a contribution to this volume, suc-
cumbed to cystic fibrosis on August 14, 1970. He was about to enter his
thirtieth year. Thus, he was one of the "oldest" patients to have lived with
this congenital disease.
During his graduate studies at Western Reserve University, Dr. Rose
not only withheld the nature of his affliction from his fellow graduate
students, but never asked for excuse or special treatment from the faculty.
None of us knew that he was living from day to day. The same was true
during the years he studied at Harvard for his A.B. degree. Paul was a
selfless, brilliant, highly cultured individual who contributed generously
to the training of countless undergraduate students.
Before his death, Paul published four papers in the Wilhelm Roux de-
velopmental biology archives. Listed below are the references to two of
these papers that helped solve one of the most knotty problems en-
countered in our studies of differentiation in Hydra, the origin of the
mucous and gland cells.
The contributors to this volume, many of whom were Dr. Rose's close
friends, wish to dedicate their contributions to his memory.
Rose, P. G., and Burnett, A. L. (1970). The origin of mucous cells in Hydra viridis. II. Mid-
gastric regeneration and budding. Wilhelm Roux Arch. Entwicklungsmech. 165, 177-
191.
Rose, P. G., and Burnett, A. L. (1970). The origin of secretory cells in Cordylophora caspia
during regeneration. Wilhelm Roux Arch. Entwicklung smech. 165, 192-216.
xv
PARTI
BEHAVIOR OF HYDRA
If an observer looks into a Hydra culture bowl for an hour or two, an
investigator would be hard-pressed to convince him that the animal
possessed any "behavior" at all except for short contractions. However,
continued observations, especially during feeding, or if the culture dish
is shaken so that the animals are swirled to the middle of the dish in a
mass tangle of tentacles and bodies, would convince the observer that the
animals are far from inactive. Many different types of locomotion and
feeding behavior are observed. In the following section various aspects
of Hydra's behavior, not obvious in casual observation, will be elucidated.
Our "floral" grazing animal will be seen as Trembley saw it over two
hundred years ago —as a voracious carnivore whose limbs carry the most
complex and deadly organelles in the animal or plant kingdom, the nema-
tocysts. In this section we also include a small chapter on feeding and
digestion, to follow an animal's fate after it has been ingested by a Hydra.
CHAPTER 1
Behavior*
NORMAN B. RUSHFORTH
I. Introduction 3
II. Locomotory Activity 6
A. Modes of Locomotion 6
B. The Role of the Nematocyst in Locomotion 9
C. Factors Leading to Locomotory Activity 12
III. Feeding Behavior 15
A. Nematocyst Discharge 15
B. Tentacular Movements 16
C. Mouth Opening, Creeping over the Prey, and Closure 18
D. Inhibition of Tentacle and Column Contractions 25
IV. Response to External Stimulation 29
A. Effects of Single Stimuli 30
B. Response to Joint Exposure to Multiple Stimuli 36
V. Summary 39
References 39
I. Introduction
When Trembley first observed Hydra viridis, it was the shape of these
polyps, their green color, and apparent immobility that led him to believe
that they were plants. On further careful study, however, he noted the
spontaneous movements of the column and tentacles, and the contraction
of these body parts when the surrounding water was agitated. "This con-
traction of the polyps, and all the movements that I saw them make when
they extended themselves again, awakened sharply in my mind the idea
* Supported in part by grants MH-10734 and GM-12303 from the National Institutes
of Health.
3