Issues

Summary: This review discusses how aquatic animals may differ in their neurobiological and behavioural responses to injurious stimuli compared with terrestrial animals, which has interesting implications for the evolution of pain.

Highlighted Article: Tarantulas extend their leg joints hydraulically. The coupling between in-series, hydraulically actuated joints was lowest at the highest temperature when the animals ran the fastest with the highest stride frequencies. The coordination of multiple, in-series hydraulically actuated joints may be limited by operating speed.

Summary: The NMDA receptor in cockroaches does not appear to be involved in the regulation of JH biosynthesis and has no effect on female reproduction.

Summary: Morphology and laryngeal biomechanics are used to model the boundaries of the alligator's available acoustic space.

Summary: Conditioned dolphin hearing dampening, caused by pairing warning and loud sounds, was found to differ with frequency of the warning stimulus, suggesting that the hearing dampening was not due to a simple stapedial reflex.

Summary: Experiments with trained animals help understanding of how song birds perceive signals in their natural environment. We tested how background noise affects the perception of acoustic cues that aid assessing the distance of a sound source.

Highlighted Article: The frugivorous bat Chiroderma villosum obtains extra protein and fat by not only eating fruit pulp but also chewing seeds instead of dispersing them.

Summary: We show that venom injection by the jewel wasp to either the subesophageal ganglion or the central complex in the brain is, by itself, sufficient to induce a long-term hypokinetic state in its cockroach prey.

Summary: Chickens with differing body size and posture but similar skeletal shape show no difference in the cost of transport.

Summary: Rats and mice that have been raised for a similar period of time under conditions of chronic hypoxia at high altitude display divergent physiological responses.

Highlighted Article: Lab-based experiments and simulations of observed behavior in an ocean circulation model give new insight into how magnetic navigation shapes the ecology of small sea turtles.

Summary: Bumblebees control their flight using motion cues generated by the nearest obstacles in the frontal visual field, a strategy that enables them to fly safely in cluttered environments.

Summary: Transcripts associated with chill injury, neurological development and longevity are up-regulated in bees exposed to fluctuating temperatures during post-diapause quiescence.

Summary: The ability of the motor system to adapt and modify motor primitives is shown by introducing a physical constraint to the octopus arm.

Summary: In Atlantic salmon, time of emergence from the nest is a trait linked to boldness, brain gene expression and monoaminergic function. This suggests divergent stress coping strategies of early and late emerging fish.

Highlighted Article: Sea urchin sperm motility under acidified conditions is shown to be related to reduced mitochondrial potential. Future forecasts of ocean acidification could place sea urchin sperm at their tolerance threshold.

Summary: Dominant Diacamma ants have higher brain dopamine levels than subordinates and the fat body is the potential target of dopamine that mediates reproduction.

Summary: The high negative buoyancy of elasmobranchs increases the cost of locomotion and may be responsible for the scarcity of sharks in fresh water.