Issues

Summary: We provide an overview of current knowledge on thermal adaptation of polar terrestrial arthropods to high temperatures; large variation in upper thermal limits exists across polar regions, habitats and species.

Summary: Na⁺/H⁺ exchangers contribute differentially to sodium and pH regulation in the midgut fluids of the sea urchin larva.

Summary: Constant daylight in the Arctic summer creates varied sleep requirements. Anti-narcolepsy drug treatment in Lapland longspurs, a ground-nesting arctic-breeding songbird, alters parental care and delays fledging of young.

Summary: Simultaneous measurements of turbulent odor signals during chemical orientation in crayfish show that turning and heading angles are influenced by the temporal properties of signals.

Summary: Adult females investing in reproduction are especially vulnerable to performance costs of protein deficits because of the physiological demands of oogenesis.

Summary: The relationship between oxygen consumption rate and dynamic body acceleration is allometrically dependent, and models incorporating different slope and intercept scaling rates estimate metabolic rates more accurately than other modelling approaches.

Summary: Optimized CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing of sea urchin small molecule transporters reveals ABCB1 knockout larvae experience heightened inflammation when exposed to pathogenic bacteria, suggesting a role for this ancient defense system in host–microbe interactions.

Summary: An intermediate degree of sex difference in Xenopus laryngeal muscle physiology provides insight into the evolution of sexually differentiated vocalizations in this genus.

Summary: Cichlids show a remarkable diversity in morphology and behavior. Cichlid species exhibit differences in strength and polarity of activity rhythms, revealing a new axis of habitat partitioning.

Summary: Heat and water stress forced crickets to reallocate (rather than conserve) resources behaviorally or physiologically, and it had stronger effects on crickets investing into flight muscle.

Highlighted Article: At high altitude, cold and hypoxia dramatically increase the cost of lactation. Nursing highland female deer mice may compensate for high RMR (70-85% of maximum aerobic metabolism) with reduced maternal care.

Summary: Analyses of burst swimming performance and critical thermal limits provide potential evidence for genetic and non-genetic adaptive trait variation corresponding to contrasting parental environments in African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) tadpoles.

Summary: Hydrogen isotope analysis of green turtle tissues and diets in controlled feeding experiments revealed the net hydrogen isotope trophic discrimination factors, the first study to do so in marine ectotherms.

Summary: In the social insect Temnothorax rugatulus, colony size influences fecundity more than body size of the two queen morphs, indicating a greater importance of colony-level traits than individual traits.

Summary: Octopuses are highly sensitive to small changes in the angle of polarization (<1 deg contrast), even when the degree of polarization is low, which may confer a functional advantage in behaviourally relevant contexts.

Summary: Differences in the magnitude and timing of tongue and jaw movements and the anteroposterior positioning of the tongue during chewing and drinking in pigs demonstrate key differences in coordination of these behaviors.

Summary: During complex behaviors, the adaptive filter in a cerebellar-like sensory nucleus utilizes multiple cancellation signals to remove predictable sensory noise and transmit externally generated sensory signals.

Summary: Rapid physiological plasticity can buffer some lizards from overheating, but the frequently reported constraints on the expression of plasticity may actually be statistical artifacts.

Summary: Short-term heat waves in early Manduca sexta larval development alter growth and developmental responses to heat waves later in development.

Summary: Five different crustacean species do not use the polarization of light alone for gaze stabilization, despite being able to use this modality for detecting predator-like objects.

Highlighted Article: Morphological adaptation to the unique defensive behaviour of spitting cobras suggests potential adaptation of the flow properties of their venom. Surprisingly, rheological differences between spitting and non-spitting cobras are not significant.

Summary: In European sea bass, thymus growth is halted by prepubertal gonad development, the effect of which is fundamentally modulated by the environmental conditions.

Summary: Honey bees share information about immune challenges with nestmates. Workers that ingest pathogens incorporate them into royal jelly, which can be transferred to the queen and young larvae.