Issues

Summary: Discussion of advances, controversies and research ideas regarding transcellular versus paracellular intestinal absorption of sugar and amino acids and the integration of discrete molecular players and processes in relation to metabolic demands.

Summary: Stereopsis has evolved independently in different animals. We review the various functions it serves and the variety of mechanisms that could underlie stereopsis in different species.

Summary: Cold-acclimated brown trout males have higher sperm quality than warm-acclimated ones, but this quality is compromised when sperm are released into warm water.

Summary: Male house mice that control exclusive polygynous territories are less economical runners compared with non-territory-holding males.

Highlighted Article: Fish showing lower hormonal stress responsiveness are more likely to be captured, indicating that stress physiology may be a trait under selection as a result of selective capture.

Summary: Compared with typical rates of hypoxia induction used in closed-respirometry P_crit experiments, gradual rates significantly lower the P_crit of goldfish by increasing gill surface area and Hb–O₂ binding affinity.

Summary: Demonstration of corticosteroid-induced heart disease in fish, showing that the molecular basis of heart disease is conserved from fish to mammals.

Summary: Novel muscle arrangements and leverage patterns associated with derived fusion of the pelvis to the shell in pleurodire turtles are associated with several novel muscle activity patterns in this lineage.

Summary: The effects of ghrelin on metabolic control of food intake in rainbow trout are counteracted by ceramide.

Summary: Oxidative stress affects sperm velocity of low-ranked house sparrows.

Summary: During embryonic development in underground nests, reptiles routinely experience hypoxia, which programmes cardiovascular physiology into adulthood, dictating convective transport during periods of elevated oxygen demand.

Highlighted Article: Respirometry and gene expression experiments suggest that oxygen limitation may not dictate the chronic upper thermal limits of the mayfly Neocloeon triangulifer.

Summary: Geographic variability of immune responses in moths is species specific and suggests trade-offs with life-history traits.

Summary: Planarians use a non-traditional TRPA1-mediated mechanism for extraocular photoresponses to near-UV light, a response previously identified only in Drosophila.

Summary: Early life experience drives the magnitude and direction of physiological acclimation. In the leaf-eared mouse, short-term acclimation of metabolic and osmoregulatory traits is dependent on ontogeny.

Summary: A comparative analysis assessing the physiological costs insects incur by singing as an aspect of a trade-off that influences an individual's fitness and life history.

Summary: TGF-β1 causes cultured trout cardiac fibroblasts to increase collagen synthesis, suggesting that this cytokine may play a role in regulating the collagen content of the trout heart during thermal acclimation.

Summary: Wild Amazon river dolphins increase biosonar beamwidth and decrease source level during prey approach while click rates transition into a buzz phase at the time of prey capture.

Summary: Important changes in peripheral temperature patterns during foraging occur in juvenile king penguins throughout their first year at sea, probably reflecting changes in body insulation that suggest an energetic challenge.