Association of heat shock protein 90 with motility of post-thawed sperm in bulls.

The correlation between the 90 kDa heat-shock protein (HSP90) and sperm quality following the process of freezing-thawing in bulls has not been studied clearly. Therefore, the objective of the present was to clarify the relationship between HSP90 level and semen parameters during the process of cryopreservation in bulls. Semen samples from 5 Holstein bulls were obtained by artificial vagina.

Interspecific variation in hypoxia tolerance, swimming performance and plasticity in cyprinids that prefer different habitats.

This study quantified and compared hypoxia tolerance and swim performance among cyprinid fish species from rapid-, slow- and intermediate-flow habitats (four species per habitat) in China. In addition, we explored the effects of short-term acclimation on swim performance, maximum metabolic rate (M(O2,max)) and gill remodelling to detect habitat-associated patterns of plastic response to hypoxia. Indices of hypoxia tolerance included oxygen threshold for loss of equilibrium (LOE50) and aquatic surface respiration (ASR50), and critical oxygen tension for routine metabolic rate (Pcrit).

Integrating environmental variation, predation pressure, phenotypic plasticity and locomotor performance.

The Wujiang River, a tributary of the Three Gorges Reservoir, has many dams along its length. These dams alter the river's natural habitat and produce various flow regimes and degrees of predator stress. To test whether the swimming performance and external body shape of pale chub (Zacco platypus) have changed as a result of alterations in the flow regime and predator conditions, we measured the steady (U(crit)) and unsteady (fast-start) swimming performances and morphological characteristics of fish collected from different sites along the Wujiang River.