reproduction
- Variable occurrence of apoptosis in the testes of diploid and sterile allotetraploid Cobitis (Teleostei, Cobitidae) males during the reproductive cycle
Summary: Caspase-3 immunoexpression in testes of Cobitis taenia and natural tetraploid Cobitis hybrids provides new insights into the reproductive physiology of polyploid fishes, underlining the role of apoptosis during spermatogenesis.
- Shift in worker physiology and gene expression pattern from reproductive to diapause-like with colony age in the bumble bee Bombus impatiens
Summary: Bumblebee workers exhibit a physiological signature (innate to workers, queen or the colony) corresponding to colony age with a shift towards a diapause-like profile in late-eclosing workers.
- Photoperiodic regulation in a wild-derived mouse strain
Summary: Mus musculus molossinus are wild-derived melatonin-proficient mice that display photoperiodic changes in reproductive organs and body mass, enhanced by gestational experience and associated with corresponding changes in pituitary and hypothalamic gene expression.
- Lipid content influences division of labour in a clonal ant
Highlighted Article: Platythyrea punctata ants show a fat content threshold for triggering foraging and egg-laying behaviour, indicating the co-opting of nutritional status to regulate division of labour in social insect colonies.
- Timing manipulations reveal the lack of a causal link across timing of annual-cycle stages in a long-distance migrant
Summary: Experimental manipulations show that pied flycatchers do not adjust the timing of their moult and migration to the termination of breeding.
- Understanding diversity in oxidative status and oxidative stress: the opportunities and challenges ahead
Summary: This Commentary highlights the distinction between biochemical and biological definitions of oxidative stress, discusses issues to consider when designing experiments to investigate oxidative stress, and proposes the ‘redox signalling hypothesis’ of life history.
- The quantity–quality trade-off: differential effects of daily food availability times on reproductive performance and offspring quality in diurnal zebra finches
Summary: Absence of food in the morning compromises reproductive fecundity but not quality of offspring, whereas food absence in the evening compromises quality (skeletal growth and overall size) of offspring but not reproductive fecundity in continuously breeding diurnal zebra finches.
- Effects of temperature on the timing of breeding and molt transitions in house finches
Summary: Experimental manipulations in male house finches indicate that elevated temperature has no direct effect on the timing of reproductive preparations, but does influence the transition from breeding to molt.
- The effect of chronic and acute stressors, and their interaction, on testes function: an experimental test during testicular recrudescence
Summary: Exposure to an acute stressor downregulated testosterone production, but this effect was absent in chronically disturbed birds. The acute stressor had a strong effect on the testicular transcriptome, whereas chronic disturbance had a negligible effect.
- High activity before breeding improves reproductive performance by enhancing mitochondrial function and biogenesis
Summary: Female mice that had access to a running wheel before mating had higher mitochondria respiration, biogenesis and reproductive outputs, indicating a positive carry-over effect to reproduction.