Issues

Summary: Practical advice for successful design and implementation of omics-based experiments and interpretation of the resulting data to evaluate and test hypotheses in comparative physiology.

Summary: This Review describes challenges and evolutionary innovations of pregnant and nursing small mammals and their offspring at high altitude, which are little studied relative to the physiological adaptations of non-reproducing adults.

Summary: Lactate ions stimulate central respiratory motor output in vertebrates.

Highlighted Article: Predatory zebrafish adjust their heading during intermittent bursts in their motion toward evasive prey by modulating the maximum tail excursion in proportion to the prey's bearing.

Summary: A sea cucumber previously recorded to be a deposit feeder can also ingest suspended particles through the mouth.

Summary: Plasticity in freeze tolerance in an intertidal mussel is correlated with an accumulation of osmolytes, supporting the hypothesis that osmolytes are important cryoprotectants in intertidal invertebrates.

Summary: Thirteen years of experimental reef manipulations show that fishes permanently without access to cleaners have lower body condition with no signs of hormonal and immune alteration.

Summary: The ability of fish to morphologically adapt to the background is present at early stages of development and is dependent upon growth hormone receptor ghr1 expression.

Summary: Alignment of motile cilia in mammalian brains is essential for transport of fluids as described in an in vitro model of the developing brain.

Summary: Analysis of the cortisol–oxidative stress relationship, and the effect of simultaneous exposure to prolonged stress and an immune challenge in the insular bat Myotis vivesi.

Summary: Among species of lizards, helodermatids, varanids and skinks (which are mainly active foragers) have relatively high maximal aerobic capacity during forced exercise (V̇_O2,maxV̇_O2,max), whereas viviparous species have relatively low V̇_O2,maxV̇_O2,max.

Summary: Precise descriptions of aggression aligned to changes in social status reveal how the recurring sequence and escalation of distinct behaviors relate to the establishment, maintenance and reversal of social dominance.

Summary: Nanomia colonies have specialized swimming bells capable of forward or backward swimming; thrust is redirected by an epithelial signal that spreads electrotonically but initiates muscle contraction via a synaptic event.

Summary: Shaved lactating solitary golden hamsters show increased rates of milk energy output and pup growth, and provide experimental support for heat dissipation limits.

Summary: During aerial turning, the chordwise flexibility of rose chafer wings increases the torque of each wing while improving maneouvring stability by mitigating the asymmetry in wing pitch between contralateral wings.

Highlighted Article: Red-eyed treefrog embryos use both their lateral line and vestibular systems to sense the disturbance cues in egg-predator attacks that inform escape-hatching decisions.

Summary: We have developed and validated a motion compensating treadmill for wood ants which opens new perspectives to study insect navigation behaviour in a fully controlled manner over ecologically relevant durations.

Summary: Terrestrial hearing in salamanders that lack a tympanic middle ear is mediated by bone conduction of sound that is detected by the acoustic end organs of the inner ear.

Editor's choice: Songbirds use temperature in the behavioral decision of when to migrate from wintering areas. Transcriptional responsiveness to temperature is a significant component of the overall adaptive strategy for spring migration.

Summary: Two fish species from the Northwest Atlantic demonstrate variable acclimation responses when presented with temperatures that naturally induce winter quiescence.

Highlighted Article: Colour discrimination performance in chickens is worse when the colours being discriminated differ greatly from the background colour. The ecological, physiological and psychophysical implications of this finding are discussed.