Issues

Summary: Social insects are excellent models for studying phenotypic plasticity. We review issues associated with understanding the genetics of plasticity-first evolution and outline an empirical approach to help advance this field.

Highlighted Article: Atlantiid heteropod swimming is unique in that these planktonic snails use a swimming fin and shell as paired wings to execute complex appendage kinematics, including a double clap-and-fling.

Summary: Low water pH limits extracellular pH compensation in a CO₂-tolerant fish. This may increase selection for a more robust CO₂ defence strategy where intracellular pH is preferentially regulated.

Summary: The association between baseline corticosterone and temperature was steeper in zebra finches living in a high- versus low-foraging-costs environment, which supports the metabolic explanation of glucocorticoid variation.

Highlighted Article: Harbour porpoises are small marine mammals that have high field metabolic rates, and offset increased thermoregulatory costs in winter by building a thick blubber layer during the autumn.

Summary: An operant conditioning paradigm in a multiple-choice maze shows that innate visual preferences can be transiently modulated in Drosophila via optogenetic activation of NPF-expressing neurons.

Summary: An artificial selection experiment using D. melanogaster inbred lines to test for non-genetic inheritance that could be selected revealed a weak response to selection in the inbred and outbred lines, with variability across lines.

Summary: Fish acclimated to constant hypoxia induced metabolic depression, whereas fish acclimated to intermittent hypoxia maintained routine O₂ demands, suggesting that distinct physiological mechanisms can be used to cope with different patterns of hypoxia exposure.

Summary: The pulmonary artery sphincter allows sea turtles to manage pulmonary perfusion during diving, but this may become a liability during stress at depth, which may increase inert gas uptake resulting in gas emboli.

Summary: Cranial bone strain data from lizard crania reveal species-specific strain gradients that are not impacted by cranial kinesis or the presence/absence of postorbital and supratemporal bars, but by dietary effects.

Summary: The baleen of right and bowhead whales is longer than the height of the mouth; experiments show it is highly flexible and bends along its length to accommodate mouth closure.

Summary: Empirical data on soaring behaviour of vultures reveal currency trade-offs through the thermal climb.

Summary: Bluegill sunfish accelerate primarily by increasing the total amount of force produced in each tail beat but not by substantially redirecting forces.

Summary: Very low accelerometer sampling frequency can reliably capture detailed behavioural and physiological data in a medium-sized carnivore.

Summary: MicroRNAs promote survival in an anoxic invertebrate through the mediation of Hippo signalling and the master regulator of hypoxia-responsive genes, HIF1.

Summary: Using the largest meta-analysis of spectral sensitivity to date, we examine how shared evolutionary history and certain ecological variables underlie variation in chromacy across ray-finned fishes.

Highlighted Article: Despite previous claims, common guillemot eggs are not self-cleaning. Instead, shell accessory material on guillemot eggs prevents debris from blocking pores, allowing relatively unrestricted gas diffusion across the eggshell.

Summary: Miniopterus fuliginosus adapt their echolocation sounds according to the spectrum pattern of the jamming sounds.

Summary: Although the behavioural sex change in fish can appear rapid, physiological competency for gender transformation is a slower process with expression gated by supermales.

Summary: Rh proteins in the anal papillae of mosquito larvae are involved in regulating acid–base balance.

Summary: High experience levels at one food source delay recruitment to another food source at the same time of day but, nevertheless, promote simultaneous time-memories in honey bee foragers.

Summary: The lateral line may be able to contribute to sound localization in fishes through a combination of directional sensitivity and time of arrival differences at neuromasts.

Summary: Within hours of an immune response in the Siberian hamster, gonadal activity is suppressed, while pituitary function remains, providing evidence for direct immune-to-gonad communication and demonstrating reproductive system–immune system trade-offs.