Tuyen Van Nguyen

UNRAVELING MARKOV PROCESSES IN MOVEMENT PATTERNS OF INDICATOR SPECIES IN RESPONSE TO CHEMICAL STRESSORS

Revealing biological responses of organisms in responding to environmental stressors is the critical issue in contemporary ecological sciences. Markov processes in behavioral data were unraveled by utilizing the hidden Markov model (HMM). Individual organisms of daphnia (Daphnia magna) and zebrafish (Danio rerio) were exposed to diazinon at low concentrations. The transition probability matrix (TPM) and the emission probability matrix (EPM) were accordingly estimated by training with the HMM and were verified before and after the treatments with 10-6 tolerance in 103 iterations. Structured property in behavioral changes was accordingly revealed to characterize dynamic processes in movement patterns. Parameters and sequences produced through the HMM training could be a suitable means of monitoring toxic chemicals in environment.

Inferring community properties of benthic macroinvertebrates in streams using Shannon index and exergy

Definition of ecological integrity based on community analysis has long been a critical issue in risk assessment for sustainable ecosystem management. In this work, two indices (i.e., Shannon index and exergy) were selected for the analysis of community properties of benthic macroinvertebrate community in streams in Korea. For this purpose, the means and variances of both indices were analyzed. The results found an extra scope of structural and functional properties in communities in response to environmental variabilities and anthropogenic disturbances. The combination of these two parameters (four indices) was feasible in identification of disturbance agents (e.g., industrial pollution or organic pollution) and specifying states of communities. The four-aforementioned parameters (means and variances of Shannon index and exergy) were further used as input data in a self-organizing map for the characterization of water quality. Our results suggested that Shannon index and exergy in combination could be utilized as a suitable reference system and would be an efficient tool for assessment of the health of aquatic ecosystems exposed to environmental disturbances.

Inferring variance and invariance in multi-individual behavior of zebrafish (Danio rerio) responding to chemical stress

Variance and invariance residing in multi-individual movement of zebrafish under chemical stress were addressed concurrently before and after treatment with formaldehyde. Variance was observed in movement parameters. Without treatment, linear speed was highest in groups with two-individuals, followed by those with one- and four-individuals. Following treatment, linear speed decreased significantly in groups with one- and two-individuals, but not in those with four-individuals. Inter-distances between two-individuals in groups with two-individuals decreased markedly after treatment, whereas inter-distances between two randomly selected individuals in the groups with four-individuals were not affected. The zero- and peak-values in the time-lag of autocorrelation of inter-distances decreased further after treatment in groups of two individuals relative to those in groups of four individuals. However, the empirical transition probability matrix between predefined behavioral patterns remained invariant among groups with different numbers of individuals as well as before and after treatment. Variance and invariance in multi-individual behaviors are suitable in expressing complex behaviors under chemical stress and could be a reference for detecting contaminants in the environment using indicator species.