Issues

Summary: Aggressive interactions activate physiological responses that, when prolonged, cause ‘wear and tear’. Using the reactive scope model, this Review explores physiological mechanisms underpinning homeostatic differences between dominant and subordinate fishes.

Summary: Quantification of cell division and cell death in the inner ears of type I male and female midshipman fish reveals cellular plasticity in the midshipman inner ear.

Summary: Sea stars control hundreds of tube feet to navigate their surroundings using a rudimentary nervous system. Phototaxis is generated through the nervous system and the mechanical interactions between the feet, body and substrate.

Summary: Client reef fish can distinguish cleaner blue saturations, and thus select those that provide a better cleaning service.

Summary: Red shiner visual pigment chromophore composition and opsin expression varies with light environment and season in a pattern that suggests trade-offs between spectral tuning and receptor noise.

Summary: Temperature-related mitochondrial inefficiency during growth in nestling shearwaters links environmental warming to reduced body size, highlighting physiological adjustments endotherms may require to cope with climate change.

Summary: Mediterranean storm petrels rely on high-frequency flapping (8.8 Hz) with infrequent and minimal gliding bouts (0.1 s) during foraging trips, showing higher flight activity at night and resting during midday hours.

Summary: Zebra finches dynamically and stereotypically adjust the oropharyngeal–esophageal cavity during song generation, with complex relationships with acoustic features.

Summary: Linear arrangements in multi-jet propelled marine colonial invertebrates are faster than less streamlined architectures without incurring higher costs of transport, offering insights for bioinspired underwater vehicle design.

Summary: Anthropogenic sound can impact shark and skate development by interfering with respiratory and/or cardiac function in the egg case.

Highlighted Article: Novel aerial photogrammetry methods reveal that smaller cetaceans rely on physiological and morphological adaptations to reduce heat loss whereas larger species offset heat loss by having larger bodies and lower surface-area-to-volume ratios.

Summary: The marine slug Peronia verruculata has a follicle-shaped vesicular structure in its brain whose functional role seems to include photosensation.

Summary: A wavelength-dependent effect of near-infrared light in aiding the recovery of damaged photoreceptors in Drosophila melanogaster.

Summary: Male bats living in a group benefit by being able to reduce energy expenditure for body heating, but do not need to lower their metabolism very much in torpor.

Summary: Flying bumblebees can efficiently land on moving flowers; they use visual information to slow down, aim towards the flower and align with its movement.

Summary: Hibernating frogs maintain motor function of breathing after spending months underwater not using the relevant muscles and nerves; the molecular components of neurons (ion channels) changes in different ways in different types of neurons to support the activity of this system.

Summary: Behavioral and neurophysiological evidence suggests that the vibrational signal of female lebinthine crickets likely evolved from a startle response to high-frequency sounds.

Summary: This first comparative metabolomic study on cereal aphids revealed that differences in metabolic response to heat stress, especially polyols and amino acids accumulation, may contribute to interspecific variations in heat tolerance.

Summary: In canaries, individuals with greater beak depth were faster at dehusking large seeds. Unexpectedly, however, individuals with smaller beaks did not perform significantly better at processing smaller seeds.

Highlighted Article: The post-weaning period may contribute to acclimatizing juvenile southern elephant seals to aquatic life and the associated physiological constraints (limited O₂ supply and oxidative stress).

Summary: High-frequency vessel noise can acoustically mask harbor porpoise echolocation by deteriorating their discrimination performance despite increased click levels in response to noise exposure.

Summary: Aromatase inhibition alters male reproductive behavior in an African cichlid fish, but the effect is population dependent; female preference depends on the female's population and male's treatment group.

Summary: Humans perform more work and expend more energy on uneven terrain, increasing approximately with the square of terrain amplitude and the cube of walking speed.