Issues

Summary: A modified hypothesis about high temperature-induced failure of electrically excitable tissues is discussed; briefly, initiation and conduction of action potentials is impaired by temperature-dependent mismatch between active and passive properties of the cell membrane.

Summary: Does predation increase post-natal metabolism and growth with consequences for adult mortality, thus creating an evolutionary conflict among species? The fact that these sources of mortality show opposite correlations with growth and metabolism may explain how the conflict is avoided.

Summary: Study of the squid–vibrio model association reveals that the symbiotic state, the day–night cycle, and the sex of the host together impact the hemolymph metabolome of the host animal.

Summary: Exposure to water–air fluctuating environments during early fish development alters constitutive adult phenotypes and diminishes the scope for reversible acclimation.

Highlighted Article: Aquifer stoneflies maintain metabolic rates in declining oxygen conditions and tolerate repeated exposure to hypoxia. This may allow them to forage in deeply hypoxic zones in alluvial aquifers.

Summary: Plant medicine can be useful, but also bears risks. Here, three substances with strikingly strong rewarding effects are identified from the medicinal plant Rhodiola rosea.

Summary: Modified particle image velocimetry (PIV) together with pressure computations reveal the turning mechanics in zebrafish.

Highlighted Article: The first experimental measurement of the energetic costs of bidirectional water flow suggests that those costs may explain differential distribution of shell species occupied by hermit crabs between wave-exposed and -protected sites.

Summary: Nitrate exposure increases the susceptibility of fish to acute changes in temperature by lowering aerobic scope and performance, but thermal phenotypic plasticity can override these potentially detrimental effects.

Summary: Svalbard ptarmigan show photoperiodic responses when transferred from constant darkness to constant light without circadian entrainment.

Summary: Micropredation by gnathiids causes fast-start escape performance and swimming behaviour to significantly decrease and cortisol levels to double in Pomacentrus amboinensis.

Summary: Individuals of a syntopic pair of electric fish recognize the electric field emitted by conspecifics by evaluating the whole time course of received signals, rather than power spectral density alone.

Summary: Both maternal and paternal exposure experience to environmental stressors are essential for survivability of offspring facing similar environmental challenges.

Summary: The effects of host plant variation extend beyond the larval stage to impact important adult insect fitness traits such as flight muscle function and muscle protein structure, and these effects can vary across species.

Summary: Rapid strike movements in Manduca sexta are controlled by differences in the activation of muscles on each side of the body and involve both co-activation and anterior–posterior phase delays.

Summary: Variation in bite force in dogs is driven by their extreme morphological variation. The covariation with skull shape suggests strong functional relationships within the masticatory system despite strong artificial selection.

Summary: Mallard ducks use environment-specific locomotor patterns (i.e. kinematics and lateral gastrocnemius muscle strain patterns) during takeoff from water versus land.

Summary: The gastric proton pump is present in the gills and kidney of freshwater tilapia and has a potential role in potassium balance.