Issues

Summary: Review of the literature and heart rate profiles of diving California sea lions emphasizes the dominance of the parasympathetic nervous system in heart rate regulation and the unlikelihood of morbid arrhythmias.

Summary: An overview of the structure and mechanics of thorax in insects, with specific emphasis on flies. We specifically explore how the flight apparatus has evolved to meet the steep demands of flight in smaller insects.

Summary: Permeability of the insect cuticular inward barrier for xenobiotics (possibly including pollutants and insecticides) is regionalised.

Summary: The identification of reliable markers, such as increased Casp-3 and GFAP expression, allows monitoring of shRNA-induced tissue stress or neurotoxicity even before the onset of cellular degeneration.

Summary: A new transgenic Drosophila melanogaster line for the cell-type-specific identification of cholinergic release sites expands the available methods toolbox for discerning the neurotransmitter systems in the fly nervous system.

Highlighted Article: Archer fish are unique aquatic predators capable of jumping multiple body lengths straight up out of the water using oscillatory caudal fin kinematics, in concert with other fins, for propulsion and stabilization.

Summary: The membrane pacemaker theory of metabolism applies only to systemic functions in the blue mussel Mytilus edulis.

Summary: Chemotactile stimulation established while recording antennal receptor activity in bumblebees demonstrates that different pollen types evoked significantly distinct neural activity already at the antennal receptor level.

Summary: Tyramine improves appetitive learning in nurse bees but not in foragers.

Highlighted Article: Larval zebrafish can be used as a model for the study of pain and nociception and thus represent a valid replacement of a protected adult vertebrate.

Summary: Heart and brain mitochondrial performance declines following acclimation to thermal extremes in killifish, which suggests that organismal performance at thermal extremes is, at least in part, constrained by mitochondrial performance.

Summary: Analysis of circadian rhythmicity in the locomotor activity of two hawkmoth species (Manduca sexta and Hyles lineata) reveals consistent sex differences in the timing of activity.

Summary: miR-29a targets SCD 3′ UTR directly. Inhibition of miR-29a could mediate conversion of C16:0 and C18:0 to C16:1 and C18:1, respectively, and activate serum insulin and glucose uptake in GIFT by increasing SCD.

Highlighted Article: Physiological investigations advance our understanding of the postnatal development of the muscle physiology that supports diving and swimming in cetaceans, and provide insight into the vulnerability of marine mammals to perturbations.

Summary: Forcing allocation to performance with exercise training revealed sex-specific trade-offs in juvenile green anole lizards.

Summary: Harbour seals perform head and body saccades, which have previously only been described for terrestrial species; thereby, they might optimize distance estimation from optic flow or reduce motion blur.

Summary: Force depression observed after active shortening does not influence the metabolic cost of muscle contraction. Force depression is likely associated with a decrease in the proportion of attached cross-bridges.

Editors’ Choice: Prior social experience shapes the intoxicating effects of alcohol, from whole-animal behavior to the activity of single neurons.

Summary: Fish characterised with opposite coping styles show telencephalic region-specific differences associated with their behavioural responses to stimuli.

Summary: Flipper stroke rate has little impact on posterior vena caval oxygen depletion patterns in diving California sea lions. Use of a stroke–glide strategy also contributes to minimization of work effort.