Abstract: To clarify gender differences in thermal tolerance of fish in response to temperature acclimation, the thermal tolerance parameters, such as critical thermal maxima (CT_max), lethal thermal maxima (LT_max), critical thermal minima (CT_min) and lethal thermal minima (LT_min), were measured in male and female zebrafish (Danio rerio) after two weeks of acclimation at preferential temperature (28 ℃), low temperature (20 ℃), and high temperature (34 ℃). Our results showed that acclimation temperature (AT) and its interactions with gender had significant effects on the thermal tolerance of zebrafish (P<0.05). No significant difference was found in thermal tolerance between females and males at 28 ℃ acclimation (P>0.05). Females were more resistant to high temperature than males at 20 ℃ acclimation, whereas they were less resistant to low temperature than males at 34 ℃ acclimation. Those results indicated that the thermal tolerance of males and females was highly consistent at suitable reproductive temperature, but was significantly different at non-suitable reproductive temperatures.

Key words: saline water drip-irrigation, dynamics of soil water, three-dimensional space and time, artificial vegetation, Taklimakan Desert.