Z R Stahlschmidt, L Chapman, S Mothukuri, R Wang, Z Khan
{"title":"Interdependency of nutrition and oxidative stress in feeding and resource allocation.","authors":"Z R Stahlschmidt, L Chapman, S Mothukuri, R Wang, Z Khan","doi":"10.1242/jeb.253367","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.253367","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Animals are regularly exposed to oxidative stress (OS) through normal biological processes, such as reproduction and aging, and they increasingly experience OS due to environmental change. However, the fitness-related costs of OS may be mediated by dietary options and feeding decisions. Here, we used a nutritional geometry framework in female field crickets (Gryllus lineaticeps) to examine the interplay between dietary macronutrients (protein [P] and carbohydrate [C]) and OS related to feeding and allocation to life-history traits. During OS (paraquat exposure), females ate more food and allocated fewer ingested nutrients to ovaries in a low-quality diet, but they ate less food and allocated more toward ovaries when dietary options were available. Overall, exposure to OS promoted reproduction at an expense to self-maintenance. Because the macronutrient quality (P:C) of available foods is declining due to climate change, nutrition and feeding decisions may play important roles in mediating how OS shapes life-history tradeoffs.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149110558","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Camille Lemonnier, Antoine Stier, Anne Cillard, Marine Montblanc, Fabrice Bertile, Pierre Bize, Jean-Patrice Robin, Vincent A Viblanc, Charles-André Bost, Yves Handrich
{"title":"Penguins maintain effort, despite reduced dive efficiency, with limited physiological response under increased swimming workload.","authors":"Camille Lemonnier, Antoine Stier, Anne Cillard, Marine Montblanc, Fabrice Bertile, Pierre Bize, Jean-Patrice Robin, Vincent A Viblanc, Charles-André Bost, Yves Handrich","doi":"10.1242/jeb.252912","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.252912","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In highly variable marine habitat, it is key to understand how free-ranging animals cope with variation in the energy cost of locomotion. Here, we experimentally tested how an apex marine predator, the king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) adjusted to an increase cost of locomotion when foraging at sea. We investigated the consequences of increased hydrodynamic drag on diving performance and physiology of a group of birds subject to externally-attached devices compared to control individuals. King penguins did not increase their locomotor effort to compensate for the additional drag but decreased swimming speed while maintaining dynamic body acceleration (VeDBA, a proxy of energy expenditure) constant. Treated birds showed no evidence of increased physiological stress in terms of body condition, oxidative stress, heterophil/lymphocyte ratio and glucocorticoid hormone levels, suggesting locomotory behavior was adjusted to minimize the costs of locomotion resulting from increased drag. Moderate consequences on mitochondrial aerobic metabolism suggest that treated birds may have had to adjust cellular metabolism. Our experimental study provides novel insight into the energetic and physiological constraints of locomotion in diving animals operating near their performance limits.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149110553","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rosalee Elting, Md Zafar Anwar, Donald R Powers, Bo Cheng, Haoxiang Luo, Bret W Tobalske
{"title":"Tail flaring during agonism in hummingbirds.","authors":"Rosalee Elting, Md Zafar Anwar, Donald R Powers, Bo Cheng, Haoxiang Luo, Bret W Tobalske","doi":"10.1242/jeb.253064","DOIUrl":"10.1242/jeb.253064","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Bird tails in flight generate lift, reduce pressure drag and stabilize pitch. Hummingbirds can sustain hovering in still air and generate lift in both the upstroke and downstroke owing to their proportionally enormous primary flight muscles and derived wing skeleton. Given their mass-specific wing power, it is possible that tails are less essential to the aerodynamics of hummingbird flight than they are in other birds, freeing them for non-locomotor functions. Hummingbird tails are well known for their morphological elaboration as sexually selected ornaments, including sound generation. From informal observations of agonism, we hypothesized that tail flaring may also be a visual signal used by males during fighting. To begin testing this, we measured the frequency and magnitude of tail flaring during fighting. We measured kinematics of tail flaring during male-male fighting of calliope hummingbirds (Selasphorus calliope, n=10) indoors. Consistent with our hypothesis, captive males exhibited greater angles of tail flare when engaged in a fight (34.6±45.5 deg, mean±s.d.) than when performing solitary landing (-14.2±9.12 deg) and take-off (-14.1±7.0 deg) maneuvers. When birds won a fight, the angles of their tail spread were greater than when they lost. Moreover, recordings of seven species of hummingbird in the field revealed 95% of interspecific and intraspecific contests included tail flaring. We evaluate these results in the context of signaling during animal contests and propose future tests of whether tail flaring is an honest signal of individual quality and resource holding potential.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148969173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kenneth J Lohmann, Jeffrey P Gill, Brian K Taylor, Catherine M F Lohmann
{"title":"Magnetoreception, flexible use of cues and low-information navigation in animals.","authors":"Kenneth J Lohmann, Jeffrey P Gill, Brian K Taylor, Catherine M F Lohmann","doi":"10.1242/jeb.252932","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.252932","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Magnetoreception - the ability to detect Earth's magnetic field - is widespread among animals. Despite recent progress, fundamental gaps in our knowledge remain. The two main goals of modern magnetoreception research are to: (1) understand how magnetic information is used by animals in navigation; and (2) uncover the biophysical mechanisms that underlie magnetic field detection. The discovery that animals use magnetic information not only as a directional (compass) cue, but also as a kind of 'map', has revolutionized research in animal navigation. Recent findings suggest that animals use magnetic cues flexibly and idiosyncratically to help guide spatial movements. We propose that a valuable but seldom used approach to studying animal movements is to consider ways in which seemingly complex navigational feats can be accomplished with minimal information, often without the need for classical map-and-compass navigation, a cognitive representation of the environment, or prior knowledge of the terrain. We also used a recently developed model to demonstrate that natural selection can potentially 'tune' magnetic navigation systems to optimize navigation in different parts of the world, and we illustrate the possibility with examples of long-distance migrations by sea turtles, fishes and birds. Emerging evidence further implies that there are multiple magnetoreceptive mechanisms rather than a single, universal way of sensing magnetic fields. We argue that the path forward, for both unraveling animal navigation and elucidating mechanisms of magnetoreception, requires a thoughtful balance between a search for unifying principles and an expectation of major differences among species and populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":"229 19","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149167161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mackenzie R Roeder, Adrienne I Kovach, Danielle L Levesque, Brian J Olsen
{"title":"Bill morphology and species identity predict heat loss at high air temperatures among tidal marsh sparrows in saline environments.","authors":"Mackenzie R Roeder, Adrienne I Kovach, Danielle L Levesque, Brian J Olsen","doi":"10.1242/jeb.252510","DOIUrl":"10.1242/jeb.252510","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The interactions between thermal environments and morphology provide critical insights into how organisms adapt to ecological pressures. Leg and bill morphology in birds are commonly shaped by their thermal regime, with thermoregulatory use of the legs predicted by high temperature extremes and bill size limited by cold temperature extremes. This general pattern has a well-documented exception, however, where the bills of birds in saline habitats appear adapted to high rather than low temperatures. Here, we present a test of the thermoregulatory use of the bill for high temperatures in three Ammospiza sparrow taxa, which face dual challenges of heat stress and freshwater limitation during the breeding season while representing a gradient of specialization to tidal saltmarshes. We quantified heat dissipation across ambient temperatures (10-35°C) using thermal imaging and examined interspecific and intraspecific variation in bill-mediated heat loss and its relationship to bill size. We found that larger bills facilitated greater heat loss, with seaside sparrows, the most tidally adapted taxon, exhibiting the highest heat dissipation rates and thermal efficiency. Notably, seaside sparrows also displayed non-linear heat dissipation patterns consistent with physiological control, with rapid increases in heat loss up to a thermal breakpoint (21.2°C) before plateauing. In contrast, saltmarsh and Nelson's sparrows exhibited linear, passive heat dissipation patterns typical of other songbirds. These findings highlight the dual contributions of morphological and physiological adaptations to thermoregulation in a freshwater-limited ecosystem, report evidence of the most fine-tuned physiological control of bill vasculature yet observed in a passerine, and offer insights into the evolutionary pressures driving avian thermoregulatory strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148706788","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Joshua L Gaschk, Kaylah Del Simone, Ami Fadhillah Amir Abdul Nasir, Mikaela J Bratovic, Robbie S Wilson, Christofer J Clemente
{"title":"Pursuit dynamics among Australian marsupials and dogs: comparative locomotor performance and escape probability.","authors":"Joshua L Gaschk, Kaylah Del Simone, Ami Fadhillah Amir Abdul Nasir, Mikaela J Bratovic, Robbie S Wilson, Christofer J Clemente","doi":"10.1242/jeb.252204","DOIUrl":"10.1242/jeb.252204","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Predation can strongly influence population outcomes, and locomotor performance may be especially important during pursuit-evasion interactions. We hypothesised that differences in performance-based escape capacity could contribute to the abundance and distribution of prey populations. We compared the locomotor performance of northern brown bandicoots (Isoodon macrourus), which persist across mainland Australia, and northern quolls (Dasyurus hallucatus), which have declined on the mainland, with that of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris; multiple breeds, 3.4-44 kg) as an approximation of canid performance. Velocity, acceleration and changes in heading were extracted from top-down video footage and used to estimate relative escape performance. Dogs achieved the highest mean and maximum speeds, whereas quolls showed the greatest turning capacity. Bandicoots were the slowest, least agile and most predictable of the three groups. The ability of quolls to outmanoeuvre a pursuing predator may help explain their association with structurally complex habitats, where agility should provide a greater advantage. By contrast, the persistence and abundance of northern brown bandicoots are likely supported by other ecological traits because their locomotor capacity for avoiding pursuit predators appears limited. These findings show that locomotor performance alone cannot explain prey population outcomes, but may interact with habitat complexity to favour different escape strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148990194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Phoebe D Edwards, Gabriela F Mastromonaco, Kerry V Fanson
{"title":"Increases in glucocorticoids are part of healthy female ovarian cycles: a systematic review across vertebrates.","authors":"Phoebe D Edwards, Gabriela F Mastromonaco, Kerry V Fanson","doi":"10.1242/jeb.252436","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.252436","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Glucocorticoids (GCs), such as cortisol and corticosterone, are hormones that have been widely linked to stress and thought to inhibit reproductive function. However, this conclusion is largely based on studies that administer exogenous GCs, rather than an understanding of the relationship between natural, endogenous GCs and reproduction. To begin to address this gap in our knowledge, this systematic review aims to characterize endogenous GC patterns across reproductive stages in a range of vertebrates. Specifically, we focused on GC patterns across the ovarian cycle in healthy, sexually mature females across vertebrate taxa. From more than 3000 papers screened, we identified 68 that met our inclusion criteria. We found that GCs show predictable fluctuations across the ovarian cycle, with 73% of the studies reporting a significant change in GCs across stages of the cycle. In the majority of studies, GCs were highest around the time of ovulation. This suggests that increases in GCs might promote or support certain aspects of reproductive function, in contrast to the prevailing dogma that GCs always inhibit reproduction. We discuss evidence that GC peaks around ovulation might stimulate oocyte maturation (either alone or synergistically with luteinizing hormone) and/or regulate inflammatory processes related to follicle rupture. Recognizing that increases in GCs might support aspects of ovarian function across taxa represents a paradigm shift in how we think about the relationship between GCs and reproduction, moving us towards a new realm for understanding reproduction and reproductive failure that, as of yet, remains relatively unexplored.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":"229 19","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149166595","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Samuel G Stea, Tariq M Brown, Rebecca Oramas, John S Hernandez, Reza Azanchi, Karla R Kaun
{"title":"Characterizing choice behavior in Drosophila melanogaster olfactory classical conditioning.","authors":"Samuel G Stea, Tariq M Brown, Rebecca Oramas, John S Hernandez, Reza Azanchi, Karla R Kaun","doi":"10.1242/jeb.253164","DOIUrl":"10.1242/jeb.253164","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Drosophila melanogaster is a powerful model organism to understand the neural and molecular mechanisms underlying learning and memory. However, memory is usually studied by assessing choice behavior at only one point in time in D. melanogaster, which limits our understanding of how flies respond to a learned cue. We developed a simple open-field-style assay that records the continuous behavioral dynamics of flies as they form preferences between two competing olfactory stimuli. We trained flies to associate odors with either a reward (sucrose) or a punishment (electric shock) and then placed them in a circular arena where they encountered a choice between a paired or unpaired odor. Within 30 s, flies approached the sugar-associated odor or avoided the shock-associated odor. Their collective behavior dynamics suggest the flies became more decisive over time; they traveled more on the preferred side, stayed closer to the source of the preferred cue, made more stops there, and consistently turned away from the alternative cue. We confirmed these results by showing that a learning-deficient mutant strain displayed no choice behavior. This assay provides enhanced resolution for understanding decision making as a continuous, dynamic process in D. melanogaster.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148982720","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tobias Elst, Sven Weidner, André Tomalka, Daniel Hahn, Wolfgang Seiberl, Florian K Paternoster, Tobias Siebert
{"title":"Repeated stretch-shortening cycles enhance force and work despite brief deactivation between cycles.","authors":"Tobias Elst, Sven Weidner, André Tomalka, Daniel Hahn, Wolfgang Seiberl, Florian K Paternoster, Tobias Siebert","doi":"10.1242/jeb.252866","DOIUrl":"10.1242/jeb.252866","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Stretch-shortening cycles (SSCs) enhance force and mechanical work compared with pure shortening contractions and are fundamental to locomotion. Although SSC mechanics are well studied, it remains unclear whether mechanical cycle-to-cycle carryover effects persist across repeated SSCs despite brief deactivation or inhibition of cross-bridge (XB) force production. To address this, single-skinned fibres from rat extensor digitorum longus muscles (n=21) underwent three consecutive SSCs at a slow velocity (1% maximal shortening velocity). Fibres were activated isometrically for 20 s before SSC1, whereas SSC2 and SSC3 were each preceded by 4 s of deactivation followed by 20 s of isometric activation. Experiments were performed under control conditions and with blebbistatin to inhibit XB force production. Repeated SSCs produced progressive performance enhancements under both conditions despite brief deactivation. From SSC1 to SSC3, peak force (Fpeak) increased by 14.6% and total SSC work (WorkSSC) by 50.1% under control conditions, and by 37.5% and 67.6%, respectively, with blebbistatin. Increased short-range stiffness under control conditions suggests XB-mediated stretch resistance, whereas persistent increases during XB inhibition indicate contributions from non-XB structures, particularly titin. These findings support a sarcomeric memory effect that enhances stretch resistance and work during repeated SSCs.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148962920","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mario Penna, Felipe N Moreno-Gómez, Gabriel Bidart-Enríquez, Romina Cossio-Rodríguez, Antonia Pérez, Matías I Muñoz, Maricel Quispe
{"title":"Vocal plasticity at different time spans during exposures to biotic and abiotic natural sounds in an austral temperate forest frog.","authors":"Mario Penna, Felipe N Moreno-Gómez, Gabriel Bidart-Enríquez, Romina Cossio-Rodríguez, Antonia Pérez, Matías I Muñoz, Maricel Quispe","doi":"10.1242/jeb.252499","DOIUrl":"10.1242/jeb.252499","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Several instances of short-term plasticity of reproductive behaviors are known to modulate interactions among competing individuals. Habituation and sensitization processes result in decrements and increments, respectively, of agonistic behaviors in breeding areas. The occurrence of such phenomena in the long term have been reported to a quite restricted extent. Frogs communicating acoustically experience auditory activation during days of exposure to conspecific signals, and thus we looked for vocal activation over such time span in male frogs Batrachyla taeniata. A total of 72 frogs were exposed during 8 or 10 days to 5 h of natural chorus sound, rain sound or left in silence, and subjected to stimulation with synthetic conspecific calls before and after such treatments. Results showed no significant variation of vocal activity between pre- and post-exposure days, indicating that no long-term plasticity phenomena occurred. However, within each day of exposure, an initial increment followed by a decrement in call rate was observed, pointing to processes of short-term sensitization and habituation or fatigue, respectively, but potential effects of photoperiod and energy depletion also need to be assessed. The lack of long-term sensitization of vocal activity contrasts with the auditory system activation for such time span reported for other anurans. The mismatch between both phenomena could relate to constraints imposed by the high energy expenditure that characterizes anuran vocal activity.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148982728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}