Issues

Summary: From an energy-redox perspective, changes in environmental salinity induce a wide diversity of responses in marine invertebrates. Characterization of mitochondrial function may allow disentangling evolutionary adaptations to different marine environments

Summary: This Review focuses on the physiological traits that have shaped the mechanical respiratory physiology of cetaceans and pinnipeds in response to the constraints imposed by the aquatic environment.

Highlighted Article: Investigation of pathogen-dependent evasion behavior in Drosophila larvae identifies a role for hugin neuropeptide in the processing of bacterial detection in the CNS.

Summary: The receptor complex MsexOr1+MsexOrco responds to the sex pheromone bombykal when expressed in heterologous systems (Xenopus oocytes, HEK293 cells, CHO cells).

Summary: We use coral explants to link intracellular ROS in vivo under thermal stress with dimethylated sulphur compounds (DMSP and DMSO), supporting the involvement of these compounds in oxidative stress regulation.

Summary: Pregnancy in aspic vipers is associated with increased oxidative damage levels despite an up-regulation of antioxidant defences; dehydration triggers an up-regulation of antioxidant defences, so preventing a cumulative effect of reproduction and dehydration.

Summary: Relative colour cues help chickens to recognize and discriminate colours when illumination colour is changed dramatically, thus improving their colour constancy performance.

Editor's Choice: The results of this experimental study show, for the first time, a positive contribution of the coral-dwelling damselfish Dascyllus marginatus on the photosynthesis of their host, the coral Stylophora pistillata.

Summary: Potencies of effector genes in silencing odor-guided behavior in Drosophila melanogaster depend on effector gene and behavioral paradigm.

Summary: One bat species alters flight muscle recruitment intensity with flight speed whereas another maintains constant muscle recruitment intensity but alters 3D wing kinematics, representing alternative strategies for flight at different speeds.

Summary: Octopamine and tyramine modulate oviduct and bursa muscle contractions, contributing to the regulation of reproduction in the Chagas disease vector Rhodnius prolixus.

Summary: Genes previously found to be correlated with the stress and bleaching responses are spatially localized in different coral cell types, suggesting that there may be two different, but interacting mechanisms important to the coral's response to changes in its environment.

Summary: The growth reduction in juvenile sea bass as a consequence of an early life hypoxia event is due to a specific change in the efficiency of protein digestive functions.

Summary: The intracardiac valve cells in the Drosophila heart tube are essential to regulate haemolymph flow directionality, in concert with a highly orchestrated cardiac contraction cycle.

Summary: Dogs co-ordinate their limbs on rough terrain in a manner consistent with optimization for quasi-static longitudinal stability.

Summary: A calibration of the overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA) method for estimating behaviour-specific energy expenditure in terms of V̇_O2 in free-ranging birds at high temporal resolution.

Summary: Experimental data and inverse dynamic modelling demonstrate how forward thrust and elevation are produced in the frog hind limb, allowing frogs to jump at a wide range of angles.

Summary: Running frogs are adept and flexible jumpers, using exquisite 3D control of their leg joints to achieve an extreme range of take-off angles.

Summary: The complex role of oxidative stress as a potential physiological mediator of life-history trade-off decisions for paternal smallmouth bass.

Summary: Male treehoppers make use of the natural resonance of their abdomens when they generate their courtship vibrational signals.

Summary: Two biogenic amines, octopamine and tyramine, influence the thermoregulatory fanning behavior in honeybees, highlighting the importance of physiological mechanisms in the organization of social insect societies.