Issues

Summary: Reflections on the development of neuroethology in the Southern Cone of South America.

Summary: Quantifying biological responses is key for conservation and management decisions. Reconciling the inconsistencies between external signals and organismal perception/memory by studying tissue-specific responses will improve our capacity for essential eco-evolutionary forecasting.

Summary: Development of modified gloves and an instrumentation system for non-invasive, unobtrusive cardiovascular screening (ECG and bioimpedance) in large non-human primates (chimpanzees), without the need for full anaesthesia or skin preparation.

Summary: Repeated exposure of the tropical cockroach Gromphadorhina coquerliana to cold promotes mitochondrial metabolism, resulting in better mitochondrial respiration.

Summary: Bumble bee heat tolerance is associated with thermal stress periodicity, recovery duration and/or access to food in laboratory and field settings.

Highlighted Article: The electric fish Gymnotus omarorum tends to escape from light, indicating the existence of a ‘light-avoidance response’. This suggests that the fish hides in shady zones to avoid macroptic predators.

Highlighted Article: Oxygen consumption rates of European eels exposed to different combinations of temperature and pressure during sustained swimming indicate that current estimates of energy demand during their spawning migration are probably overestimated.

Summary: Cold temperatures constrain heart rate, metabolic capacity and swimming performance in salmon. However, acclimation and acute exposure to 1°C have different effects on the role played by stroke volume versus oxygen extraction in supporting oxygen consumption during exercise.

Highlighted Article: When deprived of water, the insectivorous lizard Zootoca vivipara cannot restore its water balance by eating, but access to good quality food lowers the energetic costs of water scarcity.

Summary: Honeybees use a modular vision-based control strategy to land robustly and precisely. This resembles the landing strategy of bumblebees, and might thus be commonly used by flying insects.

Summary: The position of the venom pore/groove on snake fangs is not correlated with taxonomy or diet, but does influence results when taken into account during puncture experiments.

Highlighted Article: Migratory songbirds exhibit seasonal flexibility along the oxygen cascade, which enhances oxygen uptake and movement to the flight muscles during migratory flights.

Summary: Multiple different behavioral responses of sea urchins and sea stars elicited by different sensory cues are inhibited by the dopamine receptor antagonist haloperidol.