Issues

Summary: We outline why P_crit is a useful and informative comparator of hypoxia tolerance in fishes, provided it is determined using standardized respirometry methods and sound statistical approaches.

Summary: Female orb-web spiders, Argiope keyserlingi, elevate their metabolic rate under the risk of predation, allowing them to respond quicker and spend less time on foraging, reducing their exposure to predators.

Summary: Sarcomere lengths are more stable in the force-enhanced than the isometric reference state and sarcomere length instability does not necessarily correlate with sarcomere length non-uniformity and should therefore not be treated as the same phenomenon.

Summary: Chronic hypoxia does not affect sablefish cardiac steady state mitochondrial respiration or ROS release, but alters mitochondrial lipid composition and nitric oxide sensitivity, and improves respiration and reduces ROS release post-anoxia.

Summary: Despite the cysteine-string protein (CSP) being important for synapse health in flies and mammals, the C. elegans CSP homologue DNJ-14 is not required for neuromuscular junction maintenance across ageing.

Summary: An inverse-dynamics-based analysis of the mechanical function of the human major lower-limb joints reveals that the hip and especially the ankle represent key sources of positive work during the stance phase of maximum acceleration sprinting.

Highlighted Article: Developmental corticosterone exposure can orient the phenotype towards an energy-saving strategy in adult sparrows and there are both benefits and costs that could be associated with this reduced metabolism.

Highlighted Article: High levels of trimethylamines in slime glands of the Pacific hagfish stabilize the skeins and prevent their unraveling by stabilizing adhesive proteins.

Summary: White-spotted bamboo sharks transport food through their long oropharynx in step-wise motions by elevating their hyoid, which is likely to generate water flows.

Summary: In acute hypoxia, the regulation of heat shock proteins in naked mole-rats indicates prioritization of energy conservation over proteostasis.

Summary: Dragonflies show a moderate rise in hemolymph bicarbonate as they transition from water breathing to air breathing, while the non-bicarbonate buffer capacity of their hemolymph is low relative to that of other insects.

Summary: An acute change from a constant to a fluctuating thermal regime triggers a stress response in rattlesnakes. Additionally, exposure to a fluctuating thermal regime is associated with reduced immunity in rattlesnakes.

Summary: Our comparison of two intertidal sculpin fish species, which differ in hypoxia tolerance, show species- and tissue-specific responses in ROS metabolism after exposure to hypoxia and hyperoxia with normoxic recovery.

Summary: Arctic char, a hypoxia-sensitive species, regulates protein metabolism in a tissue-specific fashion during hypoxia.

Summary: Malpighian tubules of caterpillars consist of several distinct regions that differ in structure and function and are regulated by complex mechanisms.

Highlighted Article: Monarch butterfly caterpillars use specialized hairs on their thorax to detect sounds, and respond by freezing and flicking – behaviours that are thought to prevent attacks by flying insect predators.

Summary: During early acceleration from rest, sea lampreys employ distinctive, high-amplitude kinematics that produce thrust through the creation of a high-pressure region just posterior to the head.

Summary: Predatory responses in the music frog (Nidirana daunchina) indicate that EEG oscillations at higher frequency may play important roles in right-eye preference.

Summary: Measurements with the scanning ion-selective microelectrode technique reveal roles of the nuchal organ in ionoregulation, pH regulation and nitrogenous waste excretion by Daphnia magna.

Summary: Ants choose the shortest path when they are tandem running nestmates to their new nest.

Summary: Developmental temperatures affect thermal limit plasticity in adults of a marine ectotherm, and changes in these limits are paralleled by differences in ATP synthesis rate and heat shock protein expression.