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SUMMARYTo test the hypothesis that digestion has a more notable physiological effect on ambush foragers than on active foragers, we investigated the behavioural, digestive and metabolic characteristics, as well as the postprandial locomotory capacity, of four species of juvenile fish distributed along the Yangtze River, China, with distinct foraging strategies. The ambush foraging southern catfish (Silurus meridionlis) had the fewest movements per minute (MPM), lowest per cent time spent moving (PTM), slowest critical swimming speed (U crit ), lowest maintenance metabolism (V O2rest ) and lowest maximum locomotory metabolism (V O2max ). However, the southern catfish had the highest feeding level and maximum feeding metabolism (V O2peak ) and the greatest decrease in U crit after consumption of a large meal. Thus, this fish is highly adapted to its ambush behavioural strategy and sedentary life style. In the herbivorous grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus), a low digestive capacity led to little change in postprandial locomotory performance, which benefits its frequent grazing behaviour. In this species, the greater amount of energy spent on routine activity and avoiding predators versus U crit might be related to its herbivorous life style and high predation risk. The active foraging crucian carp (Carassius auratus) adopts a unique high energy cost strategy that allows for high capacity in both routine activity and digestion, and the great flexibility of its cardio-respiratory capacity (increased V O2max after feeding) guarantees a small decrease in U crit even after maximum feeding. Finally, the sluggish foraging darkbarbel catfish (Pelteobagrus vachelli) has low digestive and locomotory capacity, but its energy-efficient venomous defence strategy may be related to its abundance. These results show that the digestive, behavioural and metabolic strategies differ among these fish species. The locomotory capacity in the sedentary fishes decreased profoundly after feeding, whereas it decreased little or not at all in the active fishes. The maintenance of high locomotory capacity after eating in the active fishes is probably related to a large metabolic capacity, a lower digestive capacity or an improvement in cardio-respiratory capacity after feeding.

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The reaction mechanism of CO oxidation on the Co(3)O(4) (110) and Co(3)O(4) (111) surfaces is investigated by means of spin-polarized density functional theory (DFT) within the GGA+U framework. Adsorption situation and complete reaction cycles for CO oxidation are clarified. The results indicate that 1) the U value can affect the calculated energetic result significantly, not only the absolute adsorption energy but also the trend in adsorption energy; 2) CO can directly react with surface lattice oxygen atoms (O(2f)/O(3f)) to form CO(2) via the Mars-van Krevelen reaction mechanism on both (110)-B and (111)-B; 3) pre-adsorbed molecular O(2) can enhance CO oxidation through the channel in which it directly reacts with molecular CO to form CO(2) [O(2)(a)+CO(g)→CO(2)(g)+O(a)] on (110)-A/(111)-A; 4) CO oxidation is a structure-sensitive reaction, and the activation energy of CO oxidation follows the order of Co(3)O(4) (111)-A(0.78 eV)>Co(3)O(4) (111)-B (0.68 eV)>Co(3)O(4) (110)-A (0.51 eV)>Co(3)O(4) (110)-B (0.41 eV), that is, the (110) surface shows higher reactivity for CO oxidation than the (111) surface; 5) in addition to the O(2f), it was also found that Co(3+) is more active than Co(2+), so both O(2f) and Co(3+) control the catalytic activity of CO oxidation on Co(3)O(4), as opposed to a previous DFT study which concluded that either Co(3+) or O(2f) is the active site.

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 (Ṁ 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 (LOE 50 ) and aquatic surface respiration (ASR 50 ), and critical oxygen tension for routine metabolic rate (P crit ). Critical swimming speed (U crit ) and Ṁ O2,max were measured under normoxic and hypoxic conditions after 48 h acclimation to normoxia and hypoxia, and gill remodelling was estimated after 48 h of hypoxia exposure. Both traditional ANCOVA and phylogenetically independent contrast (PDANOVA) analyses showed that fish species from rapidflow habitats exhibited lower LOE 50 compared with fish from intermediate-and slow-flow habitats. Habitat-specific differences in P crit and U crit were detected using PDANOVA but not traditional ANCOVA analyses, with fish species from rapid-flow habitats exhibiting lower P crit but higher U crit values compared with fish from intermediate-and slow-flow habitats. Fish species from rapid-flow habitats were also characterized by less plasticity in swim performance and gill morphology in response to hypoxia acclimation compared with species from slow-flow habitats, but a greater drop in swim performance in response to acute hypoxia exposure. The study detected a habitat-specific difference in hypoxia tolerance, swimming performance and its plasticity among fish from habitats with different flow conditions, possibly because of the long-term adaptation to the habitat caused by selection stress. The PDANOVA analyses were more powerful than traditional statistical analyses according to the habitat effects in both hypoxia tolerance and swimming performance in this study.