Abstract:Though GPS collar has been widely used to study the activity rhythm of giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), the lack of researching on the reclassified value of the collar data leads to a deviation result. To determine the threshold, we carried out the research on the two giant panda (Table 1) in Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding Dujiangyan Field Research Center for Giant Pandas. Based on the strategy of maximum positive rate. We compared the behavior data obtained from the video monitor (Table 2) with the motion sensor data of GPS collars in the period of May 23rd, 2015 to June 10th, 2015. The results showed there was no significant difference between rest motion index and active motion index of the two giant panda (Fig. 1). The threshold was determined as 32 while 0 was used as the threshold in prior researches. The percentage of correctly classified rest behavior and active behavior was 98.23% and 94.48%, respectively. Whereas, based on the threshold of 0, the percentage of correctly classified rest behavior and active behavior was 100% and 77.34%, respectively (Fig. 2). We identified the resting and activity behaviors of the two giant pandas in 19 days based on the value of 32 and 0. The result showed that the daily average activity rate of giant pandas based on the threshold of 0 (“Qian Qian” was 59%, “He Sheng” was 70%) was significantly higher than the daily average activity rate based on the threshold of 32 (“Qian Qian” was 54%, “He Sheng” was 50%) (Fig. 3). It suggested that the activity rates of giant pandas could over estimated based on the value of 0.

Abstract:Group sizes of Brandt’s vole ( Lasiopodomys brandtii )overwintering colonies could affect colonies’ predation risks. We studied how the different group sizes of Brandt’s vole affect the predation preference in Xilinguole typical steppe, Inner Mongolia, Abagaqi Centre from September 25 to October 15, 2014. Meanwhile, we tested the effect of the predation preference of the steppe polecat (Mustela eversmanni) on the group size of the Brandt’s vole within the sampling area. Recapture method and MNA method were used to estimate the Brandt’s family quantity. Meanwhile, both the amount of feces of the steppe polecat and holes dig by the steppe polecat within the ground of each Brandt’s vole colony was recorded as the indicator of its predation preference. 91 colonies of Brandt’s voles and 658 Brandt’s were observed within the sampling area, among them 17 Brandt's vole has new feces, 5 Brandt's vole were dug by the steppe polecat (the sampling area is 4hm2) . Then the Mann-Whitney U of nonparametric was used to analyze the data. The results show that the rank sum of the colonies where no feces of the polecat were recorded is 1096, while that of the colonies with feces records is 3090 (U value = 315, Adjusted Z Value = ?3.241, Adjusted P Value = 0.0012); At the same time, the rank sum of the colonies whose holes were dug by the polecat is 429, comparing with the colonies no dig , the rank sum is 3757 (U value = 16, Adjusted Z Value = ?3.514, Adjusted P Value = 0.0004).This suggests that the difference between the two groups of colonies is significant. This difference indicates that the steppe polecat significantly prefers to high number of group sizes of Brandt's vole colonies, they tend to spend longer time around the colonies with more holes, some of them even tried to dig those colonies to hunt, therefore, more feces and excavation trails can be found around the ground of those colonies .This finding indicates that the colonies with larger size result into a higher predator risk.

Abstract:Himalayan vulture (Gyps himalayensis) is preference to nest on the high cliffs (from 2400m to 4800m asl.). It is an almost endemic species to China and it is relatively rare in neighboring countries. Research on the behavior is very difficult and methods are primitive. We search about hundred nests by the line survey and questionnaire methods in Tianshan. To survey and monitor the mating and other nest behavior of Himalayan Vulture during the breeding period, we set infra-red cameras near nests from 2013 to 2015. The behavioral scanning method also used in it. The cameras took about 110 thousands photos, we selected 2150 valid photos. Seven types of behaviors were identified as mating, nesting, resting, alerting, maintain, locomotion and other including all the behaviors not mentioned above. Among which 135 (6.3%) was mating, 403 (18.7%) was nesting, 420 (19.5%) was resting, 375 (17.4%) was alerting, 335 (15.6%) was maintain, 200 (9.3%) was locomotion, 282 (13.1% ) was other. Mating behavior was the highest at 13:00-14:00 during the study period, which has a close relation with air temperature. The peak of nesting occurred 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00. After each nesting peak, a short trough often appeared behind it. In winter food shortage is a big problem during the breeding period. Photos show the predators into the vulture nest, such as eagle owl (Bubo bubo) and snow leopard (Uncia uncia), the reproductive of vulture was probably prolonged and ending due to the disturbance by predators.

Abstract:s: A highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 infected by whooper swans (Cygnus cygnus) and other wild ducks outbroke in early 2015 at Sanmenxia Reservoir Region, China. In order to strengthen the avian influenza surveillance and prevention, we summarized the data of wintering whooper swans population surveys in 2010 and 2015, and analyzed the fidelity on wintering sites based on the color making resightings of whooper swans. A total of 119 individuals resighted at Sanmenxia were confirmed from 19 lakes at the northern and central Mongolia. Meanwhile, whooper swans also showed the better fidelity to Sanmenxia wintering sites, which may be related to its habitats suitability and food richness. According to our survey results, the numbers of wintering whooper swans population at Sanmenxia increased significantly in recent years, especially reached 6,317 individuals in early 2015, and many whooper swans at other wintering site were attracted here, as a result of the better water quality through the diverting Yellow River to Sanmenxia Reservoir and abundant corn food raised by local people, so it is assumed that the HPAI outbreak maybe related to higher population density. Finally, it is suggested that the local government should take effective measures such as establishing a new suitable habitat, to promote population dispersal of whooper swans.

Abstract:The phenomenon of stealing food is very common in hoarding food animals. The hoarding food can be stolen by intraspecific or interspecific competitors, which are one of the main reasons for the loss of hoarding foods. Meanwhile, it is the main driving factor for the evolution of selection on the food storage behavior. Consequently, the study on the hoarding food strategy which avoid being stolen would be useful in uncovering the underlying mechanisms for the evolution of the hoarding food behavior,and protecting the hoarding food birds. The Varied Tit has obvious behavior of hoarding food at autumn, and the storage mode is scattered. During October 2014, at liaoning province, dalian, fairy cave national nature reserve (E 122°53′24″ ~ 123°03′30″，N 39°54′00″ ~ 40°03′00″), in the experimental zone, we chose seven appropriate respectively separated greater than 1000 m areas. After that, we artificially placed Korean pine seeds, guided and set up seven fixed varied tits feeding points. Then, with mist net method, we traped varied tits at the fixed feeding points, and released these bird after bird banding and taking the blood. As shown in table 1. In this study, we artificially served the food in seven places and set the food source in the center(The fixed varied tits feeding points). According to the distance from the cache site to the food source, the high pilferage risk area, medium pilferage risk area and low pilferage risk area was divided to study the change of hoarding food ratio of varied tits, according to the presence or absence of potential pilferers. We took into account the time and energy’s costs and profits of feeding and storage process to examine the strategy of varied tits in avoiding being stolen food storage strategy. The results showed that the trend in hoarding food strategy of varied tits was roughly similar whether there was potential thieves prey or not. Foods were mainly stored in the medium pilferage risk area, with the high pilferage risk area and low pilferage risk area storage food ratio was relatively low. The presence of interspecific and intraspecific potential pilferers had different and obvious influence on the hoarding food strategy of varied tits. The presence of interspecific and intraspecific potential pilferers decreased the food storage ratio of high pilferage risk area (interspecific potential pilferers：F=3.174, P<0.05；intraspecific potential pilferers：F=90.475, P<0.05)and increased that of low pilferage risk area (interspecific potential pilferers：F=220.440, P<0.05；intraspecific potential pilferers：F=15.651, p<0.05). Furthermore, when there was interspecific potential pilferers, the food storage ratio of medium pilferage risk area would be lower（F=143.749, P<0.05）, but if there was intraspecific potential pilferers, the food storage ratio of medium pilferage risk area would not change(F=0.776, P>0.05). This means that the varied tits recognized and prevented from stealing food of interspecific pilferers more than intraspecific potential pilferers. In addition, in the three different situations, the male and the female varied tits’s hoarding food strategies were obviously different. As shown in table 2. When there was no potential pilferers, and there was intraspecific potential pilferers, the male varied tits would took notice and prevented stealing food more than the females(There was no potential pilferers: high pilferage risk area t=4.962, df=16.546, P<0.05; medium pilferage risk area t=-0.89, df=29.255, P>0.05; low pilferage risk area t=-2.166, df=30, p<0.05);( There was intraspecific potential pilferers: high pilferage risk area t=-0.152, df=29, P>0.05 ; medium pilferage risk area t=2.352, df=19.568, P<0.05; low pilferage risk area t=-2.287, df=19.563, P<0.05).While there was interspecific potential pilferers, the results show that no significant difference was observed in the hoarding food strategy of the male and female varied tits.( high pilferage risk area t=1.361, df=29, P>0.05; medium pilferage risk area t=-0.194, df=21.529, P>0.05; low pilferage risk area t=-1.599, df=29, P>0.05).

Abstract:During the 2014 breeding season, from July to August, song from 41 male dusky warbler in Saihanba Forest Farm,Hebei Province,were analyzed, with an average of 47 songs from each individual. It was found that maximum song frequency was 7.04 ± 0.89 kHz, minimum song frequency was 1.75 ± 0.30 kHz, beginning song frequency was 4.53 ± 2.00 kHz, end song frequency was 3.22 ± 1.43 kHz, duration of song was 1.24 ± 0.32 s, and 6.50 ± 1.91 syllables in each song. 49 syllable types was found based on the structure in spectrum form total 41 males, and 2 to 30 syllable types was sung by each male. The relationship between song similarity and spatial distance was tested, but not differ significantly from zero in our study population (Mantel test，P=0.657).

Abstract:From July to August in 2012, we recorded and analyzed the relationship between call structure and body size, snout-vent length, and head width in 55 male Phrynoglossus martensii. The results show that body size, snout-vent length, and head width were 1.26 ± 0.55 g, 21.04 ± 2.57 mm, and 6.76 ± 0.75 mm, respectively. This frog produces only the advertisement call and aggressive call. The advertisement call consists of a single note, with dominant and fundamental frequencies at 1519.69 ± 70.60 Hz, range 1057 ~ 1765Hz and 1519.69 ± 70.60 Hz, range 1057–1765Hz, respectively. Remarkably, both the dominant and fundamental frequencies of the advertisement call were negatively correlated with body size and snout-vent length, whereas the inter-note intervals were positively correlated with body size and head. The dominant and fundamental frequencies of the aggressive call were 3752.64 ± 174.47 Hz, range 3304 ~ 4081 Hz and 1674.88 ± 79.88 Hz, range 1367–1870 Hz, respectively. Compared with the advertisement call, the fundamental frequencies (t = – 5.374, df = 56, P < 0.001) were much higher and the note duration and inter-note intervals were much lower in the aggressive call (P < 0.05). These results demonstrate that individual variations in call structure and types are mainly dependent on morphological indexes in this species with small body mass.

Abstract:In order to make clear the degenerative characteristics of gill external morphology in Ichthyophis bannanicus, 8 eggs at early stage of mature embryo were picked out randomly from the same clutch and the larvae were released from the capsule. Soon afterwards the left 9 eggs were monitored at late stage to observe the changes of gills before and after hatching. At early stage of mature embryo, initially embryonic gills (Fig. 1a) were red and inflated, filaments at almost right angle to gill axis; afterwards, the gill rami (Fig. 1b) were paled and the filaments turned curled and the angle between filament and gill axis smaller. At late stage of mature embryo and at the outset of newly born larvae, at the start the gill rami (Fig. 1c, d) were white, soft, filaments curled, angles smaller between filament and axis; subsequently, the gill ramus (Fig. 1e) striped off gradually. The result showed that the mode of the gills degeneration was not resorption, nor resorption with stripping, but only stripping, that obvious signs of external morphological changes can be seen during the degeneration process which includes 3 steps: less blood supply, halt of blood supply as well as death and stripping of gill rami and that at late stage of mature embryo, earlier hatching, more gill rami, otherwise, less rami will be kept and paled gill rami will fall off randomly.

Abstract:Euchiloglanis kishinouyei which belonging to the genus Euchiloglanis in the family Sisoridae is an endemic fish which lives only in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Because of its special living environment, breeding habit and evolutionary, E. kishinouyei is an important object of study fish evolution. The purpose of this study was to determine age structure and growth characteristics of E. kishinouyei, and to propose effective measures to protect this species. A total of 383 specimens which were collected from mid July 2012 and late June 2013 in the Jiaomuzu River, a tributary river of the Yangtze River. Method: Body length and body weight of each specimen were measured. The characteristics of four kinds of age determination materials of E. kishinouyei, lapillus, pectoral fin spines, vertebra and opercular had been described and compared the similarities, differences and veracities. Calculation of increment rate and growth indexes of body length and body weight of E. kishinouyei by Yin Minchen’s methods (1995). The growth of E. kishinouyei was fitted by the equation of Von Bertalanffy. Statistic analysis of all data were taken using Microsoft excel 2003 and SPSS 19.0. Results: The results shows that vertebra was the main structure for age determination (Fig. 1). The standard length of the samples mainly ranged from 92﹣190 mm, which 110-140 mm individuals accounting for 74.41% of the total (Fig. 2). The total weight mostly ranged from 14.70﹣119.80 g, which 20-60 g individuals accounting for 84.86% of the tota1 (Fig. 3). Age of the fishes was identified to eleven age classes (3﹣13 years old) and individuals of 5﹣8 years old were dominated with frequency of 84.07% (Fig. 4). Sex ratio (♀︰♂) was 1︰1.06. There was a correlation between body length and vertebra, with the equation was L = 67.038 + 50.783RO (n = 325，R2 = 0.758，P < 0.01) (Fig. 5). The relationship between body length (L，unit mm) and total weight (W，unit g) showed no significant difference between ma1es and females, which could be expressed as: W = 3×10﹣5L2.9279 (n = 383, R2 = 0.807 1, P < 0.01) (Fig. 6). The growth of E. kishinouyei was in a constant speed which can be described with von Bertalanffy equation. According to the growth, growth rate and acceleration growth rate equation of body length and body weight, Lt = 208.42 [1﹣e﹣0.089(t+1.20)], Wt = 184.82 [1﹣e﹣0.089(t+1.20)] 2.9279, dL/dt = 18.5494 e﹣0.089(t+1.20), dW/dt = 48.1610 e﹣0.089(t+1.20)[1﹣e﹣0.089(t+1.20)]1.9279, d2L/dt2 =﹣1.6509e﹣0.089 (t+1.20), d2W/dt2 = 4.2863e﹣0.089 (t+1.20) [1﹣e﹣0.089 (t+1.20)]0.9279 [2.9279 e﹣0.089 (t+1.20)﹣1], the E. kishinouyei growth slow and it’s life cycle was so long. The growth inflexion points was 10.87 years with the corresponding body length 134.24 mm and body weight of 53.37 g, which behind the age of sexual maturity (♀6 age, ♂5 age). The Spawning groups were mostly supplement groups (5, 6 age) and low age remaining groups (7, 8 age) (Fig. 7). Above all, the resources of E. kishinouye were heavy damaged, measures such as strict ban to unreasonable catching and exploring the hydropower resources should be enhanced.

Abstract:In the present study, the hybrids were artificially bred among blunt snout bream Megalobrama amblycephala and three Megalobrama species including M. skolkovii, M. terminalis and M. pellegrini using reciprocal crosses methods. The morphologic characteristics of intermuscular bones in hybrids as well as inbreds of four species were investigated and compared, totally 10 groups. Among the individuals from these 10 groups (Table 1), the number of intermuscular bones was ranged from 96 to 134 with the average number of 119 (Table 2). There were no significant differences among the 10 groups and M. pellegrini inbreds had the minimum intermuscular bones with the mean value of 114. The length of intermuscular bones of the same fish had the linear relationship with the body weight and body length of fish individuals in these 10 groups (Table 3 and 4, Fig. 1-4). The length of intermuscular bones in the different part had significant difference (P < 0.05), while the intermuscular bone in the epiaxial muscle of dorsal part were significantly longer than the other three parts including (P < 0.05) hypaxial muscle and epiaxial muscle of tail part, hypaxial muscle of dorsal part (Table 5). The number of intermuscular bones in hypaxial muscle of dorsal part was significantly less than other parts (P < 0.05) and there was no significant difference between hypaxial muscle and epiaxial muscle of tail part (P > 0.05) (Table 6). There were 6 kinds of intermuscular bones in the hybrids, including “1” type, “卜” type, “y” type, one-end-multifork type, twen'zwo-end-multifork type, and “（” type, with more complex shapes in the front part of body (Table 7). All the results indicated that the hybridization among the Megalobrama species had no distinct changes for the intermuscular bones.

Abstract:The Wangchiachii’s schizothoracin (Schizothorax wangchiachii) is mainly distributed in southwest river system of China, which is an important economic fish. The wild resource was gradually decreased in recent years，due to overfishing and the water conservancy project. In order to protect the species, hatchery-produced juvenile release program has been implemented in China, and some basic research had been carried out simultaneously. The paper was mainly focused on the morphological development of embryo and yolk-sac larva of Ya-long river Wangchiachii’s schizothoracin, and then compared to the Jin-sha river Wangchiachii’s schizothoracin, in order to verify the early life stage of Wangchiachii’s schizothoracin which from the different living environment. The mature Ya-long river Wangchiachii’s schizothoracin, reared in Fish Breeding and Releasing Station of Jinping-Guandi Hydropower Plants, were used for artificial propagation in this study. The fertilized eggs were hatched in Yushchenko incubator with water temperature of (14 ± 1) ℃. The morphological development of embryo and yolk-sac larva was described and photographed with stereoscopic anatomical lens, randomly select the embryo and larva 30 and 10 every time, respectively.The biology data of larvae was measured with vernier caliper. Photoshop CS4 was used for phtogragh processing and the Excell software for data processing. The results showed that the Ya-long river Wangchiachii’s schizothoracin larvae hatched 181 h after fertilization, and the accumulative temperature was 2 539.98 h·℃. The time table of Wangchiachii’s schizothoracin embryo development can be acquired from Tab.1 and the embryo morphological development of Wangchiachii’s schizothoracin was showed in Fig.1. The average total length (TL) of newly hatched larvae was 11.36 ± 0.22 mm, and TL was 15.64 ± 0.59 mm,when the yolk-sac was absorbed thoroughly, the larvae growth data and morphological development was showed in Tab.2 and Fig.2, respectively. The conclusion was that the early life stage of Ya-long river Wangchiachii’s schizothoracin was basically same with Jin-sha river Wangchiachii’s schizothoracin, but some characteristic were differences such as egg diameter, hatch time and so on, maybe due to living environment difference.

Abstract:In this paper, we studied the spermatozoa cryopreservation of Nibea albiflora using two-step cooling methods, HBSS as extender, EG(ethylene glycol) as cryoprotectant, in 0.5mL straws, also investigated the DNA damage in response to the cryopreservation process by SCGE. The results showed that there were no significant differences between fresh sperm and frozen-thawed sperm which diluted with 5%, 10% or 15%EG in moving time and life-span time. However, frozen-thawed sperm moving time and life-span time with 20%, 25% or 30% EG as cryoprotectant had a significant drop as compared with fresh sperm. The SCGE results demonstrated that there were no significant differences between fresh sperm and frozen-thawed sperm which diluted with 5%, 10%, 15% or 20%EG in DNA fragments, but DNA fragments differed significantly with fresh sperm when EG concentrations was added to 25% or 30%. In fact, there was a positive correlation between DNA damage extent of frozen-thawed sperm and concentrations of EG in protocol. So we conclude that cryoprotectant of 5%~15%EG can be considered as the most effective choices for spermatozoa cryopreservation of Nibea albiflora.

Abstract:American shad (Alosa sapidissima) belongs to Clupeomorpha, Clupeiformes, Clupeidae, Alosa. As eurythermal, euryhaline anadromous and migratory fish, American shad and Chinese shad are not only very similar in appearance and habits, but also have high nutritional value and economic value. American shad is extremely sensitive to changes in the external environment, vulnerable to the impact of environmental factors change (such as sound, light, water physical and chemical factors, etc.) and the influence of manual operation such as fishing, transportation, etc. Heat stress proteins (HSPs), also known as heat shock proteins, are founded that it is widely present in different species. It is a family of non-specific cell protective protein associated with resilience, and similar to a number of housekeeping genes. And the heat stress protein, especially the heat stress protein 70 (hsp70) family, is highly conserved in evolution. It also has a variety of biological functions: As a molecular chaperone, it assists proteins in properly folding, assembling, transporting, and regulating, repairing damaged proteins, and disintegrating of denatured proteins under stress; In cell protection, it can protect mitochondria from cytokines damage, play an important role in the anti-apoptotic, anti-oxidation and immune response. Besides, it also participates in the immune response in antigen-presenting, synergistic immune function. Hsp70 cDNA was cloned, analyzed, and the expression level of hsp70 mRNA was detected in A variety of fish species, such as bluntnose black bream (Megalobrama amblycephala), grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus), silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), nile tilapia (Tilapia nilotica), roughskin sculpin (Trachidermus fasciatus), bronze gudgeon (Coreius guichenoti ), siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii), sword tali (Xiphophorus hellerii), bastard halibut (Paralichthys olivaceus) etc. Studies show that the expression of hsp70 gene is regulated at the transcriptional level. The experiment, by the study on the expression of hsp70 gene in American shad broodstocks tissues and differential expression before and after the transport stress, aimed at a further understanding of the American shad in HSP70 protein synthesis and expression and regulation mechanism, in order to provide a theoretical basis for resistance mechanism study of American shad. In this experiment, by means of artificial transportation stress, we take 6 tails as the transport 0 h sampling, then catch 24 tails randomly divided into 12 bags, each bag 2 tails: 6 bags for 2 h transport stress sampling, while the other 6 bags for 4 h sampling. The differences between groups were analyzed by ANOVA One-way, and the results were expressed by Mean±SE. The full-length cDNA of hsp70 of American shad was cloned by reverse transcription poly merase chainreaction (RT-PCR) and rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) methods. The results revealed that the length of hsp70 cDNA is 2 545 bp, containing an open reading frame (ORF) of 1 914 bp specified a peptide of 637 amino acids. The secondary structures contained three signature sequences of HSP70 family (Fig. 2). The homology analysis indicated that hsp70 of American shad shared more than 84.0% identity with the hsp70s of other fishes such as Astyanax mexicanus , it is also shared as high as 73% and 38% identity with Drosophila auraria and Escherichia coli (Tab. 2). The tissue-specific expressions of hsp70 mRNAs were detected in American shad. A high expression was observed in the gill, muscle and head kidney，while relatively high expression was encountered in brain and heart，and a weak expression in the liver, spleen, intestine and kidney (Fig. 4). Utilizing real-time quantitative PCR studied the effects of transport stress on expression of hsp70 mRNA in parent fish of American shad. Result of showed that hsp70 mRNA content in gill and liver increased significantly after transport 2 hours and then dropped after transport 4 hours (Fig. 5 and Fig. 6), in head kidney showing an increasing trend (Fig. 7). Results showed the gene is consistent with the characteristics of hsp70. And the hsp70 mRNA in gill, liver, head kidney showed obvious response on transport stress.

Abstract:Previous studies by authors indicated that low temperature could result in more females of Schizothorax kozlovi during the early developmental stage. In order to elucidate the role of Cyp19b in sex differentiation of S. kozlovi, the full length cDNA of Cyp19b was cloned from the brain of S. kozlovi by using rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) method. Relative mRNA expression levels of Cyp19b were determined by using quantitative real-time PCR (RT-PCR). Then the differences of Cyp19b mRNA expression levels in gills, brain, heart, liver, spleen, kidney, muscle, testis and ovary among different body-sized groups were discussed, while temperature effects on its expression during the larval stage of S. kozlovi were evaluated. The results indicated that: the full length cDNA of Cyp19b was 3 021 bp, which encoded 507 amino acids and belonged to brain aromatase gene; the deduced amino acid sequence of Cyp19b of S. kozlovi had more than 70% identity compared with brain aromatase genes of other teleost fishes, but only around 64% when compared with gonadal aromatase genes of other teleost fishes; the mRNA expression of Cyp19b of S. kozlovi only appeared in brain but not in other tissues, presenting relatively high tissue specificity; One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) revealed that the mRNA expression levels of Cyp19b were not significantly different between females and males in small body-sized samples (mean standard length was 12 cm), but gradually showed significant difference between females and males in large body-sized samples (mean standard length was 26 cm) (Fig. 3); larvae at 12 days after hatching were cultured in five different temperature groups, ANOVA revealed that six days later the mRNA expression levels of Cyp19b were significantly increased by low temperature (10℃ and 14℃), but not influenced by high temperature (26℃) (Fig. 4). The present results suggested that brain aromatase gene Cyp19b may play important roles in the feminization of S. kozlovi affected by low temperature during the early developmental stage.

Abstract:Mantis shrimp (Oratosquilla oratoria) is an important fishery species in coastal areas of China. To exploit and manage this species scientifically, it is necessary to investigate genetic diversity and discuss genetic structure of O. oratoria. In this study, the method of sequences analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit Ⅰ (COⅠ) gene was used to reveal genetic variance of O. oratoria from the East China Sea (including Miaozihu Island, Nanjiushan, Dachen Island and Nanji island Sea areas, and sample size of each location is 25) and comparative analysis with that of the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea population and the South China Sea population (gene sequences were obtained from GenBank) was also studied. 658 bp of COⅠ partial sequences of O. oratoria from the East China Sea were obtained by using PCR amplification and sequencing. The results showed that the number of variable site, haplotype, haplotype diversities and nucleotide diversities were 60, 60, 0.963 ± 0.011 and 0.005 94 ± 0.000 44 respectively in all sequences of four geographical populations from the East China Sea, which indicated that O. oratoria was characterized by higher haplotype diversity and higher nucleotide diversity (Table 2). A shallow topology of haplotype neighbor-joining (NJ) tree showed no phylogeographic structure among four geographical populations from the East China Sea (Figure 1). Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) suggested the genetic variance mainly came from individuals within populations (Fst =﹣0.007 78, P > 0.05) (Table 3) and F-statistics (Fst) among four geographical populations from the East China Sea showed that no significant genetic differentiations were detected (Fst=﹣0.016 53~﹣0.009 08, P > 0.05) (Table 4). It was supposed that gene exchange in some degree occurred among four geographical populations from the East China Sea. In contrast to gene sequences from the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea population (30 sequences obtained from Genbank) and the South China Sea population (25 sequences obtained from Genbank), however, two significant distinct lineages was detected from haplotype neighbor-joining tree (Figure 2), and analysis of molecular variance suggested the genetic variance mainly came from individuals among populations (Fst =﹣0.849 71, P < 0.01) (Table 5). Significant genetic differentiations were detected (Fst= 0.884 58，P < 0.01) between population from the East China Sea and population from the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, and the situation between population from the East China Sea and population from the South China Sea is the opposite (Fst =﹣0.020 44, P > 0.05) (Table 6). The genetic structure pattern of O. oratoria may be caused by marine environmental conditions or historical climate change. In conclusion, the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea O. oratoria should be considered as one stock while the East China Sea O. oratoria and the South China Sea O. oratoria should be considered as one stock in their assessment and management based on this article.

Abstract:Meiosis is an important mechanism in the eukaryotes adaptive evolution of eukaryotes. Here, we identified 14 meiotic genes in eight ciliates and studied their molecular evolution. The results show that: (1) Specific meiotic genes lost and duplication were found in ciliates; (2) meiotic genes are conserved in ciliates; (3) Recombination process in meiosis belong to class II type in ciliates, which was not common in other eukaryotes. These results indicated that meiosis in ciliate may represent the original style, and may be a good model to study the origin and evolution of eukaryotic meiosis process.

Abstract:Female birds can transmit immune factors into eggs to defense pathogen by maternal effect, including innate immune factor lysozyme and adaptive maternal antibody. To investigate how the female birds allocate immune factors into eggs , we totally collected 20 clutches and 60 eggs of great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) in Qinghai Lake and recorded the breeding density and laying order, then determining Newcastle Disease Virus antibody titer by Hemagglutinin Inhibition Test and lysozyme concentration by lysoplate assay, respectively. The Pearson correlation and Spearman correlation were employed to analyze the correlation between lysozyme concentration and breeding density and the correlation between NDV antibody titer and lysozyme concentration respectively, meanwhile, the relationship between lysozyme level and laying order was performed by One way ANOVA and student’s t test was applied to analyze the difference of lysozyme concentration in NDV positive eggs and negative eggs. From the results, we found that (1) lysozyme concentration was positively related to breeding density between clutches (r = 0.886, P < 0.0001, Pearson correlation, Table 1); (2) lysozyme concentration increased with laying order within a clutch (F = 3.95, P < 0.05, Fig 1) and the level of lysozyme in the NDV positive eggs was higher than in negative eggs (t = 4.08, df = 58, P<0.001, Fig 2); (3) the NDV antibody titer had negative relationship with lysozyme concentration in positive eggs (r =﹣0.840, P < 0.001, Table 2). Hence, we concluded that female birds transmit lysozyme into eggs according to breeding density and laying order, meanwhile, effectively transferring lysozyme and NDV maternal antibody into eggs to provide optimal protection for offspring.

Abstract:Brood parasitism is a model system of studying co-evolution, however, which species can be parasitized by cuckoo is not clear until now. In order to make sure whether the Pygmy Wren Babbler (Pnoepyga pusilla) can be parasitized by Lesser Cuckoo (Cuculus poliocephalus), we used field observations and molecular analysis to examine it in Sichuan, China. During July, 2015, we found one nest of Pygmy Wren Babbler with brood parasitism (Fig 1). With polymerase chain reaction, two genetic barcodes (cyt b, COI) were successfully amplified and sequenced, 1 012 bp and 680 bp were got for each barcode. The sequences we blasted in gene bank showed the parasite was Lesser Cuckoo, the host was pygmy wren babbler, with 100% ident. With literature search, we found that 10 species, except pygmy wren babbler, have ever been recorded as host of Lesser Cuckoo (Table 1). This study confirmed the existence of the Lesser Cuckoo parasitizing Pygmy Wren Babbler nest.

Abstract:As the most colorful terrestrial vertebrates, birds are covered under varieties of feathers with multiple functions, such as camouflage, mate choice, signal recognition. These brilliant colors attract scientists to put their sights on the subject of bird coloration. Birds use a series of chemical pigments and physical structures to produce a diverse color palette. Melanins and carotenoids are two major classes of common compounds in plumage colors. Melanins are synthetized in vivo while carotenoids are derived from diet. It would be helpful to further investigate the molecular regulation mechanisms by reviewing the pigmentations, identifications and genetics of melanins and carotenoids.

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Abstract:On 11 March 2014, 12 March 2015 and 9 November 2015,Ochre-rumped Bunting (Emberiza yessoensis) was discovered in Dazehu Wetland, Changsha,Hunan Province. It is a new birds record of the province.

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