Physiological and behavioural aspects of exercise in fish

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Animals use many locomotor strategies for survival in various habitats.  Many factors (e.g., predator-prey interactions) are of profound ecological importance and depend heavily on a fish's ability to swim.  Over the past few decades, a significant amount of research has focused on determining the physiological mechanisms (e.g., patterns of energy fuel use, recovery processes) associated with exercise in fish, with some effort describing species differences in the response to exhaustive exercise.  More recently, researchers have shown that substantial intraspecific variability exists in the physiological response to exercise, and that this variability is almost as great as the variability noted between species.  However, the underlying cause of this within species variability in fish is not well known.  My research will focus on factors (e.g., temperature) that influence the post-exercise recovery process, and ultimately the underlying mechanisms that may account for the intraspecific variability in the exercise response in fish.  I will specifically examine the roles of post-exercise behaviour (i.e., behavioural thermoregulation- the ability to track temperatures to reduce metabolic costs) and ontogeny (i.e., development) on the post-exercise processes in fish.  Researchers have recently suggested that these factors may be important in describing the variability. I will also assess the swimming behaviour and physiology of a unique group of fish, the sturgeons.  My experimental approach involves the analysis of metabolites, assessment of behaviour and utilization of respirometric techniques.  My ultimate goal is to gain a better understanding of  the underlying processes/mechanisms that account for the enormous intraspecific variation in the physiological response to exercise in fish.  My proposed studies are unique in that they will examine the relationship between behaviour and post-exercise recovery processes.  In addition, these studies will focus on the development and plasticity of metabolism in fish.