Issues

Summary: This paper critically reviews the effects and physiological mechanisms that reproduction could have on bioenergetic capacity to better understand how a reproductive event could affect future reproduction and/or survival.

Summary: Evolved changes in hemoglobin–oxygen affinity in high-altitude birds and mammals provide striking examples of convergent biochemical adaptation.

Summary: Reversible changes to the oxidative skeletal muscle of the amphibious fish Kryptolebias marmoratus out of water enhance terrestrial locomotory performance, even in the absence of exercise training.

Summary: Madrepora oculata show a threshold for calcification at an Ω_a of 0.92 and there is no mitigating effect at increasing pCO₂ due to more food supplied.

Highlighted Article: Elasmobranchs, which are nitrogen-limited in nature, take up the toxicant ammonia across their gills from environmentally realistic levels in seawater, using it to make urea, an essential osmolyte.

Summary: A novel bicarbonate-stimulated, soluble adenylyl cyclase-mediated mechanism to control heart rate in Pacific hagfish (Eptatretus stoutii), together with catecholamine control, explains tachycardia during recovery from anoxia.

Summary: The tropical drosophilid Z. indianus shows seasonal plasticity for desiccation resistance and a lower rate of water loss in simulated summer versus rainy season conditions, similar to changes exhibited by seasonal wild-caught flies.

Summary: Late maturation of tympanic middle ear structures in toads causes reduced sensitivity to sounds in free-living, post-metamorphic animals.

Summary: Intense broadband noise exposure does not affect echolocation behavior of big brown bats flying in dense acoustic clutter.

Summary: Muscle stretch at activation onset, simulating a state of reduced in-series compliance, enhanced the rate of force rise and force summation. Subtle differences in muscle–tendon interaction likely explain enhanced performance.

Highlighted Article: The locomotor biomechanics of wild, free-living echidnas is assessed using accelerometers and GPS units.

Summary: Fasting induces a transitory exposure to oxidative stress, and effort to recover in body mass after an advanced fasting period may be a neglected carryover cost of fasting in king penguins.

Summary: Crickets use a modified tracheal system that couples their two ears for sound localization. Yet, the most elaborate of these systems does not provide better directionality compared with more simple forms.

Highlighted Article: Ostriches moving freely overground prefer to walk very slowly and run over a broad range of speeds, with gait transitions at slower relative speeds than humans.