Issues

Summary: We review the molecular, neural and chemical underpinnings of daily variations in insect olfaction and olfactory behavior, and identify outstanding questions regarding the sensory and physiological mechanisms of olfactory rhythms.

Summary: Time–energy budgets outperform dynamic body acceleration in predicting daily energy expenditure in black-legged kittiwakes, and estimate a very low cost of gliding flight relative to flapping flight using simple and easily obtainable GPS-accelerometry metrics.

Summary: Chronic stress alters task allocation in honeybee colonies, by accelerating worker maturation and reducing worker efficiency and survival, leaving colonies more vulnerable to environmental disturbances.

Summary: There is a considerable difference in estimating muscle performance using in vivo-derived graded activation patterns compared with the traditionally used supramaximal square-wave activation pattern.

Summary: Higher temperature causes an aging-dependent decline in antimicrobial activity following infection, accelerating the onset of immune senescence.

Editors' Choice: The contractile efficiency of the muscles that power escape jet propulsion swimming in cuttlefish is relatively high. Maximal efficiency and power output occur at the cycle frequency used in vivo.

Summary: Examining the mechanisms of gonadal sex steroid regulation provides integrative insights into how peripheral tissue may modulate reproductive behavior in a manner independent of the HPG axis.

Summary: Hyperoxia improves the metabolic scope of schoolmaster snapper when acutely warmed, but not their upper thermal tolerance.

Summary: Analysis of Ambystoma maculatum during overwintering emergence shows that both innate (migration restlessness) and external (temperature and gravity) factors can explain the behaviour of fossorial ectotherms emerging from underground burrows at the end of winter.

Summary: Muscles produce forces relatively slowly, which is not explained by conventional muscle processes. Quantitative modeling suggests that there is a rate-limiting intermediate process, which facilitates force development.

Summary: The energy output of skeletal muscle is limited by one of two characteristic energies: its work capacity and its kinetic energy capacity.

Summary: Arctic char regulates its aerobic metabolism during cyclic hypoxia by adjusting its metabolic rate, regulating mitochondrial respiration and keeping mitochondrial ROS level under control.

Summary: Arctic char exhibits distinct metabolic and oxidative stress responses under constant high and fluctuating temperature conditions, highlighting the potential of diel thermal cycling for mitigating stress compared with constant thermal exposure.

Summary: In human walking, variation in the overall sinking depth in sand is associated with significant changes in gait variables such as joint angles and spatiotemporal variables.

Summary: Mice use tail swings to counteract roll perturbations and maintain stability, highlighting the tail's crucial role in locomotion on challenging balancing conditions.

Summary: The response of jumping spiders to a Posner task reveals enhanced spatial attention to previously unattended areas, suggesting a separation between overt and covert attentional mechanisms in their modular visual system.

Summary: Grey mouse lemurs show sex-specific torpor expression and energy balance in response to acute caloric restriction at the end of winter, before mating; the evolutionary and ecological perspectives are discussed.

Summary: Ophiuroids are an ideal alternative model system for changing ocean research, as demonstrated for the mottled brittle star, with temperature as the main driver affecting its ecophysiology.

Highlighted Article: Ruby-throated hummingbirds experiencing torpor, unlike mammalian heterotherms, show no active suppression of respiration, nor does torpor affect the activity of key aerobic enzymes.

Summary: A novel behavioural setup to study how insects respond to minute real-time changes in humidity reveals that the hydration status of vinegar flies significantly influences their tendency to seek optimal humidity.

Summary: Tuning of neural circuits for species-specific song recognition can be altered in very young songbirds before the sensitive period of vocal production learning.

Summary: The distance code in the honeybee waggle dance is embedded in the landscape memory that bees establish during their exploratory and their foraging flights.

Highlighted Article: Ring-necked snakes differentially regulate head and cloaca temperatures using physiological (endogenous) mechanisms.