Brain and body physiology in changing ecosystems

Ocean acidification disrupts squid hunting behavior by inducing neurometabolic rewiring in the optic lobes. Changes in cholinergic transmission and metabolism make predators less successful, showing climate change impacts on marine predator neurobiology.

Transcriptomic analysis of brain samples collected from dolphins found beached in the Indian River Lagoon during algal bloom seasons shows Alzheimer’s disease related molecular signatures.

Downregulating pa-BAK stabilizes coral-algal symbiosis, reduces bleaching, and prevents oxidative damage under heat stress in Pocillopora acuta, enhancing its thermal tolerance but potentially causing long-term trade-offs like mitochondrial damage.

A lipid enzyme is involved in the thermal responsiveness of neurons by regulating ionotropic receptor expression, thereby maintaining the cool temperature avoidance of Drosophila larvae.

Rapid climate warming in summer and winter is shown to be associated with bill size variation in accordance with the bill’s role in heat exchange, providing evidence that avian morphology is tracking climate change through time in response to changing thermoregulatory demands.

This study shows that animals can adapt behaviorally to warm environments by speeding up their internal clocks. Suprathreshold temperatures activate the Lim1 pathway in the fly brain, resulting in accelerated circadian clock activity and increased early morning activity.

In this study, we identify an actively regulated process that governs the rate of forgetting in Caenorhabditis elegans, modulated by both temperature and the mood-stabilizing drug lithium.

Bright light reduces feeding and weight gain in mice by activating a specific retina-to-brain pathway that signals through the visual thalamus to inhibit appetite-regulating neurons in the hypothalamus.

Ambroziak, Nencini, Pohle and colleagues identify a slowly emerging plasticity mechanism in a discrete set of hypothalamic preoptic neurons that is triggered by long-term heat exposure and that drives thermal acclimation to promote heat tolerance in mice.

Bleaching threatens corals worldwide as the oceans warm from climate change. Here the authors provide insight into intergenerational acclimatization potential by identifying metabolomic signatures of coral resistance to bleaching at all stages of development, including in the new generation.

Climate-driven warming affects the reproduction of oviparous ectotherms. Here, authors identify and characterize a VtgR-mediated heat protection mechanism for oocyte development in both mud crabs and zebrafish.

Humid heat exposure has been shown to alter the gut microbiota and its metabolites. Here, the authors show that transplantation of humid heat-exposed microbiota promotes anxiety-like behaviours, which are ameliorated by Lactobacillus murinus administration.