Issues

Summary: Carotenoid pigments color avian ornaments and organelles within the visual photoreceptors. We explore how shared carotenoid molecular genetics and physiology might link the production and perception of visual signals.

Summary: This Review is a comparative framework for the wide array of disparate taxa that are linked by the unique swimming strategy of jet propulsion.

Summary: Honey bees display reduced learning and memory performance following acute exposure to arsenic, copper or lead. Exposure to combinations of these metals has additive effects.

Summary: Telomerase activity is not completely downregulated during postnatal development and may be a mechanism through which growth rates affect postnatal telomere dynamics.

Summary: The resistance training enhances the gut microbiotas abundance and improves its biological functions in healthy rats.

Summary: Analysis of Na⁺ transport across the Daphnia magna nuchal organ using the scanning ion-selective electrode technique and ion transport inhibitors indicates a role for Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase, vacuolar H⁺-ATPase, Na⁺/H⁺ and Na⁺/NH₄⁺ exchangers and a basolateral Na⁺/Cl⁻ cotransporter.

Summary: Examination of the trade-offs between total assay length and variation in temperature preference in thermal preference experimental design reveals no significant effect of length of acclimation time and trial length on thermal preference of juvenile lake whitefish.

Summary: Submersion significantly alters breathing mechanics in turtles, increasing minute work of breathing; the post-pulmonary septum aids ventilation by maintaining a constant volume within the animal's body cavity.

Summary: Although the medial and the lateral gastrocnemius are often considered as equivalent muscles in humans, EMG and ultrasound measurements suggest that they may have distinct neuromechanical behavior during walking.

Editor's Choice : In one electric fish genus, most species produce complex, plastic electric signals. One species that produces a simple signal shows reduced signal plasticity and retains vestigial mechanisms of signal complexity.

Highlighted Article: Bumblebees show a preference for elevated floral humidity and can learn to distinguish flowers that differ in floral humidity levels.

Summary: Experienced hawkmoths prefer floral nectars containing amino acids and are able to learn floral cues associated with nectar composition in order to preferentially visit amino acid-containing flowers.

Summary: The nature of transgenerational plasticity responses of marine organisms to climate change differs depending on the organism's habitat.

Summary: Tests of consistency of individual endocrine responses to different environmental challenges show that although variation exists, the intercept and slope of the stress response are repeatable, suggesting selection can act upon endocrine plasticity.

Summary: Comparison of three components of frog calls (sound, vocal sac size and ripples) showed that integrating across these modalities improved the estimate of the frog's body size.

Highlighted Article: Feeding hibernating bears a single nutrient to replace up to 100% of the estimated daily energy lost in hibernation is insufficient to restore an active season phenotype.

Highlighted Article: This study demonstrates adaptive function of lepidosaur scales in that they reduce cutaneous evaporative water loss in bearded dragons exhibiting reduced scalation phenotypes that are unique to captivity.

Summary: While juvenile king penguins are readily able to dive to considerable depth when leaving their natal colony, physiological maturation and the refinement of foraging skills require an extensive period at sea.

Summary: Dopamine has opposing effects on crayfish agonistic behaviour: the dopamine system is downstream of octopamine for inhibition, whereas its facilitating effect is due to activation of mutual parallel pathways with serotonin.

Summary:Aedes aegypti larvae habituated to a visual stimulus in a particular visual context react to the same stimulus presented in a different visual context, showing that habituation is context specific, i.e. there is an association between the context and the visual stimulus.

Summary: Isolation of the energetic costs of spatial and temporal asymmetries reveals that step time asymmetry plays a more dominant role than step length asymmetry in shaping gait energetics.