T. Blewett, S. Binning, A. Weinrauch, C. Ivy, Giulia S. Rossi, B. Borowiec, G. Lau, Sienna L Overduin, Isabel Aragao, T. Norin
{"title":"Physiological and behavioural strategies of aquatic animals living in fluctuating environments.","authors":"T. Blewett, S. Binning, A. Weinrauch, C. Ivy, Giulia S. Rossi, B. Borowiec, G. Lau, Sienna L Overduin, Isabel Aragao, T. Norin","doi":"10.1242/jeb.242503","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.242503","url":null,"abstract":"Shallow or near-shore environments, such as ponds, estuaries and intertidal zones, are among the most physiologically challenging of all aquatic settings. Animals inhabiting these environments experience conditions that fluctuate markedly over relatively short temporal and spatial scales. Living in these habitats requires the ability to tolerate the physiological disturbances incurred by these environmental fluctuations. This tolerance is achieved through a suite of physiological and behavioural responses that allow animals to maintain homeostasis, including the ability to dynamically modulate their physiology through reversible phenotypic plasticity. However, maintaining the plasticity to adjust to some stresses in a dynamic environment may trade off with the capacity to deal with other stressors. This paper will explore studies on select fishes and invertebrates exposed to fluctuations in dissolved oxygen, salinity and pH. We assess the physiological mechanisms these species employ to achieve homeostasis, with a focus on the plasticity of their responses, and consider the resulting physiological trade-offs in function. Finally, we discuss additional factors that may influence organismal responses to fluctuating environments, such as the presence of multiple stressors, including parasites. We echo recent calls from experimental biologists to consider physiological responses to life in naturally fluctuating environments, not only because they are interesting in their own right but also because they can reveal mechanisms that may be crucial for living with increasing environmental instability as a consequence of climate change.","PeriodicalId":22458,"journal":{"name":"THE EGYPTIAN JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73532240","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Thiemo Karwinkel, M. Winklhofer, Lars Erik Janner, Vera Brust, O. Hüppop, F. Bairlein, Heiko Schmaljohann
{"title":"A magnetic pulse does not affect free-flight navigation behaviour of a medium-distance songbird migrant in spring","authors":"Thiemo Karwinkel, M. Winklhofer, Lars Erik Janner, Vera Brust, O. Hüppop, F. Bairlein, Heiko Schmaljohann","doi":"10.1101/2022.04.28.489840","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.04.28.489840","url":null,"abstract":"Current evidence suggests that migratory animals extract map information from the geomagnetic field for true navigation. The sensory basis underlying this feat is elusive, but presumably involves magnetic particles. A common experimental manipulation procedure consists of pre-treating animals with a magnetic pulse. This aims at re-magnetising particles to alter the internal representation of the external field prior to a navigation task. While pulsing provoked deflected bearings in laboratory experiments, analogous studies with free-flying songbirds yielded inconsistent results. Here, we pulsed European robins (Erithacus rubecula), being medium-distance migrants, at an offshore stopover site during spring migration and monitored their free-flight behaviour with a regional-scale tracking system. We found no pulse effect on departure probability, nocturnal departure timing, or departure direction, in agreement with results on a long-distance migrant released at the same site in autumn. This necessitates a reassessment of the importance of geomagnetic maps for migratory decisions for free-flying birds. Summary statement Magnetic pulse pre-treatment disturbs geomagnetic map usage of birds in lab environments. However, our free-flying birds show no effect, suggesting geomagnetic map information is less important in the natural environment.","PeriodicalId":22458,"journal":{"name":"THE EGYPTIAN JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88175291","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jackson R. Phillips, A. Hewes, Molly C. Womack, K. Schwenk
{"title":"The mechanics of air-breathing in African clawed frog tadpoles, Xenopus laevis (Anura: Pipidae).","authors":"Jackson R. Phillips, A. Hewes, Molly C. Womack, K. Schwenk","doi":"10.1242/jeb.243102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243102","url":null,"abstract":"Frog larvae (tadpoles) undergo many physiological, morphological, and behavioral transformations through development before metamorphosing into their adult form. The surface tension of water prevents small tadpoles from breaching the surface to breathe air (including those of Xenopus laevis), forcing them to acquire air using a form of breathing called bubble-sucking. With growth, tadpoles typically make a behavioral/biomechanical transition). X. laevis tadpoles have also been shown to transition physiologically from conforming passively to ambient oxygen levels to actively regulating their blood oxygen. However, it is unknown whether these mechanical and physiological breathing transitions are temporally or functionally linked, or how both transitions relate to lung maturation and gas exchange competency. If these transitions are linked, it could mean that one biomechanical breathing mode (breaching) is more physiologically proficient at acquiring gaseous oxygen than the other. Here, we describe the mechanics and development of air-breathing and the ontogeny of lung morphology in X. laevis throughout the larval stage and examine our findings considering previous physiological work. We find that the transitions from bubble-sucking to breaching and from oxygen conforming to oxygen regulation co-occur in X. laevis tadpoles at the same larval stage (Nieuwkoop-Faber stages 53-56 and 54-57, respectively), but that the lungs do not increase significantly in vascularization until metamorphosis, suggesting that lung maturation, alone, is not sufficient to account for increased pulmonary capacity earlier in development. Although breach-breathing may confer a respiratory advantage, we remain unaware of a mechanistic explanation to account for this possibility. At present, the transition from bubble-sucking to breaching appears simply to be a consequence of growth. Finally, we consider our results in the context of comparative air-breathing mechanics across vertebrates.","PeriodicalId":22458,"journal":{"name":"THE EGYPTIAN JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79060203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The acute effects of higher versus lower load duration and intensity on morphological and mechanical properties of the healthy Achilles tendon: a randomized crossover trial","authors":"E. Merza, S. Pearson, G. Lichtwark, P. Malliaras","doi":"10.1242/jeb.243741","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243741","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Achilles tendon (AT) exhibits volume changes related to fluid flow under acute load which may be linked to changes in stiffness. Fluid flow provides a mechanical signal for cellular activity and may be one mechanism that facilitates tendon adaptation. This study aimed to investigate whether isometric intervention involving a high level of load duration and intensity could maximize the immediate reduction in AT volume and stiffness compared with interventions involving a lower level of load duration and intensity. Sixteen healthy participants (12 males, 4 females; age 24.4±9.4 years, body mass 70.9±16.1 kg, height 1.7±0.1 m) performed three isometric interventions of varying levels of load duration (2 s and 8 s) and intensity (35% and 75% maximal voluntary isometric contraction) over a 3 week period. Freehand 3D ultrasound was used to measure free AT volume (at rest) and length (at 35%, 55% and 75% of maximum plantarflexion force) pre- and post-interventions. The slope of the force–elongation curve over these force levels represented individual stiffness (N mm−1). Large reductions in free AT volume and stiffness resulted in response to long-duration high-intensity loading whilst less reduction was produced with a lower load intensity. In contrast, no change in free AT volume and a small increase in AT stiffness occurred with lower load duration. These findings suggest that the applied load on the AT must be heavy and sustained for a long duration to maximize immediate volume reduction, which might be an acute response that enables optimal long-term tendon adaptation via mechanotransduction pathways.","PeriodicalId":22458,"journal":{"name":"THE EGYPTIAN JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78391390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Experimental warming during incubation improves cold tolerance of blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) chicks","authors":"J. Page, A. Nord, D. Dominoni, D. McCafferty","doi":"10.1242/jeb.243933","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243933","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Climate change and increasing air temperature may alter environmental conditions for developing birds, with a range of phenotypic consequences for offspring. The thermal environment during incubation may affect the trade-off between growth and thermoregulation, but the effects of temperature on the ontogeny of endothermy are not fully understood. Therefore, we experimentally tested whether heating the nest cup of Eurasian blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) during incubation would influence cold tolerance of the chicks after hatching. Chicks from both heated and control nests showed a decrease in cooling rate with age as they became increasingly endothermic and homeothermic. However, chicks from previously heated nests cooled at a lower rate per unit surface area and from across the whole body. These chicks also had a greater body mass during the first 12 days of life compared with chicks from control nests. Lower cooling rates in heated chicks may reflect greater thermogenic capacity or a reduced surface area to volume ratio owing to a greater body mass. Future projections for climate change predict rising air temperature and increased likelihood of heatwaves, even in temperate regions. Our results indicate that nest microclimate can affect thermoregulation in offspring, and thus may be used to predict some of the future physiological responses of birds to climate change during breeding.","PeriodicalId":22458,"journal":{"name":"THE EGYPTIAN JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84271282","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The effects of soft and rough substrates on suction-based adhesion.","authors":"J. Huie, A. Summers","doi":"10.1242/jeb.243773","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243773","url":null,"abstract":"The Northern clingfish (Gobiesox maeandricus) has a suction-based adhesive disc that can stick to incredibly rough surfaces, a challenge for stiff commercial suction cups. Both clingfish discs and bioinspired suction cups have stiff cores but flexible edges that can deform to overcome surface irregularities. Compliant surfaces are common in nature and technical settings, but performance data for fish and commercial cups is gathered from stiff surfaces. We quantified the interaction between substrate compliance, surface roughness, and suction performance for the Northern clingfish, commercial suction cups, and three biomimetic suction cups with disc rims of varying compliance. We found that all cups stick better on stiffer substrates and worse on more compliant ones, as indicated by peak stress values. On compliant substrates, surface roughness had little effect on adhesion, even for commercial cups that normally fail on hard, rough surfaces. We propose that suction performance on compliant substrates can be explained in part by effective elastic modulus, the combined elastic modulus from a cup-substrate interaction. Of all the tested cups, the biomimetic cups performed the best on compliant surfaces, highlighting their potential to be used in medical and marine geotechnical fields. Lastly, we discuss the overmolding technique used to generate the bioinspired cups and how it is an important tool for studying biology.","PeriodicalId":22458,"journal":{"name":"THE EGYPTIAN JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85509755","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ayaka Saito, C. Kinoshita, Megumi Kawai, Takuya Fukuoka, Katsufumi Sato, K. Q. Sakamoto
{"title":"Effects of a parasympathetic blocker on the heart rate of loggerhead turtles during voluntary diving.","authors":"Ayaka Saito, C. Kinoshita, Megumi Kawai, Takuya Fukuoka, Katsufumi Sato, K. Q. Sakamoto","doi":"10.1242/jeb.243922","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243922","url":null,"abstract":"Diving bradycardia is a reduction in the heart rate mediated by the parasympathetic system during diving. Although diving bradycardia is pronounced in aquatic mammals and birds, the existence of this response in aquatic reptiles, including sea turtles, remains under debate. Using the parasympathetic blocker atropine, we evaluated the involvement of the parasympathetic nervous system in heart rate reduction of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) during voluntary diving in tanks. The heart rate of the control group dropped by 40-60 % from the pre-dive value at the onset of diving; however, administration of atropine significantly inhibited heart rate reduction (P<0.001). Our results indicate that, similar to mammals and birds, the heart rate reduction in sea turtles while diving is primarily mediated by the parasympathetic nervous system. In conclusion, we suggest that diving bradycardia exists not only in aquatic mammals and birds but also in aquatic reptiles.","PeriodicalId":22458,"journal":{"name":"THE EGYPTIAN JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90278286","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Inhibiting the endocannabinoid degrading enzymes FAAH and MAGL during zebrafish embryogenesis alters sensorimotor function.","authors":"Lakhan S Khara, Md. Ruhul Amin, D. Ali","doi":"10.1242/jeb.244146","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.244146","url":null,"abstract":"The endocannabinoid system (eCS) plays a critical role in a variety of homeostatic and developmental processes. Although the eCS is known to be involved in motor and sensory function, the role of endocannabinoid (eCB) signaling in sensorimotor development remains to be fully understood. In this study, the catabolic enzymes fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), and monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL) were inhibited either simultaneously, or individually during the first ∼24 hours of zebrafish embryogenesis, and the properties of contractile events and escape responses were studied in animals ranging in age from 1 day post fertilization (dpf) to 10 weeks. This perturbation of the eCS resulted in alterations to contractile activity at 1 dpf. Inhibition of MAGL using JZL 184 and dual inhibition of FAAH/MAGL using JZL 195 decreased escape swimming activity at 2 dpf. Treatment with JZL 195 also produced alterations in the properties of the 2 dpf short latency C-start escape response. Animals treated with JZL 195 exhibited deficits in escape responses elicited by auditory/vibrational (A/V) stimuli at 5 and 6 dpf. These deficits were also present during the juvenile developmental stage (8-10-week-old fish), demonstrating a prolonged impact to sensory systems. These findings demonstrate that eCS perturbation affects sensorimotor function, and underscores the importance of eCB signaling in the development of motor and sensory processes.","PeriodicalId":22458,"journal":{"name":"THE EGYPTIAN JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77831174","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Locomotion in the pseudoscorpion Chelifer cancroides - forward, backward and upside down walking in an eight-legged arthropod.","authors":"Johanna Tross, H. Wolf, Torben Stemme, S. Pfeffer","doi":"10.1242/jeb.243930","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243930","url":null,"abstract":"While insect locomotion has been intensively studied, there are comparably few studies investigating octopedal walking behaviour, and very little is known about pseudoscorpions in particular. Therefore, we performed an extensive locomotion analysis during forward, backward and upside down walking in the cosmopolitan pseudoscorpion Chelifer cancroides. During forward locomotion, we observed C. cancroides to freeze locomotion frequently for short time periods. These microstops were barely visible to the naked eye with a duration of 100-200 ms. Our locomotion analysis revealed that C. cancroides performs a statically stable and highly coordinated alternating tetrapod gait during forward and backward walking, with almost complete inversion of the tetrapod schemes, but no rigidly fixed leg coordination during upside down walks with low walking speeds up to 4 body lengths per second. Highest speeds (up to 17 body lengths per second), mainly achieved by consistent leg coordination and strong phase shifts, were observed during backward locomotion (escape behaviour), while forward walking was characterised by lower speeds and phase shifts around 10% between two loosely coupled leg groups within one tetrapod. That is, during the movement of one tetrapod group, the last and the third leg are almost synchronous in their swing phases, as are the second and the first leg. A special role of the second leg pair was demonstrated, probably mainly for stability reasons and related to the large pedipalps.","PeriodicalId":22458,"journal":{"name":"THE EGYPTIAN JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82359944","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Patterns and processes in amphibious fish: biomechanics and neural control of fish terrestrial locomotion.","authors":"K. Lutek, C. Donatelli, E. Standen","doi":"10.1242/jeb.242395","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.242395","url":null,"abstract":"Amphibiousness in fishes spans the actinopterygian tree from the earliest to the most recently derived species. The land environment requires locomotor force production different from that in water, and a diversity of locomotor modes have evolved across the actinopterygian tree. To compare locomotor mode between species, we mapped biomechanical traits on an established amphibious fish phylogeny. Although the diversity of fish that can move over land is large, we noted several patterns, including the rarity of morphological and locomotor specialization, correlations between body shape and locomotor mode, and an overall tendency for amphibious fish to be small. We suggest two idealized empirical metrics to consider when gauging terrestrial 'success' in fishes and discuss patterns of terrestriality in fishes considering biomechanical scaling, physical consequences of shape, and tissue plasticity. Finally, we suggest four ways in which neural control could change in response to a novel environment, highlighting the importance and challenges of deciphering when these control mechanisms are used. We aim to provide an overview of the diversity of successful amphibious locomotion strategies and suggest several frameworks that can guide the study of amphibious fish and their locomotion.","PeriodicalId":22458,"journal":{"name":"THE EGYPTIAN JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88348273","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}