Aerocytes are specialized for gas exchange We used sparse cell labelling and deep imaging to visualize individual capillary cells in three dimensions. aCap cells are complex, large cells (spanning more than 100 μm; 21 × 10 3 μm 3 mean volume) with ramified

Birds and mammals share a number of features that are remarkably similar but that have evolved independently. One of these characters, endothermy, has been suggested to have played a cardinal role in avian and mammalian evolution. I hypothesize that it is parental care, rather than endothermy, that is the key to understanding the amazing convergence between mammals and birds. Endothermy may have arisen as a consequence of selection for parental care because endothermy enables a parent to control incubation temperature. The remarkable ability of many birds and mammals to sustain vigorous exercise may also have arisen as a consequence of selection for parental care because provisioning of offspring often requires sustained vigorous exercise. Because extensive parental care encompasses a wide range of behaviors, morphology, and physiology, it may be a key innovation that accounts for the majority of convergent avian and mammalian characters.

The lungs of birds move air in only one direction during both inspiration and expiration through most of the tubular gas-exchanging bronchi (parabronchi), whereas in the lungs of mammals and presumably other vertebrates, air moves tidally into and out of terminal gas-exchange structures, which are cul-de-sacs. Unidirectional flow purportedly depends on bellowslike ventilation by air sacs and may have evolved to meet the high aerobic demands of sustained flight. Here, we show that air flows unidirectionally through parabronchi in the lungs of the American alligator, an amphibious ectotherm without air sacs, which suggests that this pattern dates back to the basal archosaurs of the Triassic and may have been present in their nondinosaur descendants (phytosaurs, aetosaurs, rauisuchians, crocodylomorphs, and pterosaurs) as well as in dinosaurs.

The lungs of birds have long been known to move air in only one direction during both inspiration and expiration through most of the tubular gas-exchanging bronchi (parabronchi). Recently a similar pattern of airflow has been observed in American alligators, a sister taxon to birds. The pattern of flow appears to be due to the arrangement of the primary and secondary bronchi, which, via their branching angles, generate inspiratory and expiratory aerodynamic valves. Both the anatomical similarity of the avian and alligator lung and the similarity in the patterns of airflow raise the possibility that these features are plesiomorphic for Archosauria and therefore did not evolve in response to selection for flapping flight or an endothermic metabolism, as has been generally assumed. To further test the hypothesis that unidirectional airflow is ancestral for Archosauria, we measured airflow in the lungs of the Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus). As in birds and alligators, air flows cranially to caudally in the cervical ventral bronchus, and caudally to cranially in the dorsobronchi in the lungs of Nile crocodiles. We also visualized the gross anatomy of the primary, secondary and tertiary pulmonary bronchi of C. niloticus using computed tomography (CT) and microCT. The cervical ventral bronchus, cranial dorsobronchi and cranial medial bronchi display similar characteristics to their proposed homologues in the alligator, while there is considerable variation in the tertiary and caudal group bronchi. Our data indicate that the aspects of the crocodilian bronchial tree that maintain the aerodynamic valves and thus generate unidirectional airflow, are ancestral for Archosauria.

Twenty ruminally fistulated steers (Exp. 1, 448 kg and Exp. 2, 450 kg) were used in two consecutive randomized complete block experiments with five treatments in each experiment. The purpose was to evaluate the impact of feeding different supplemental sugars or starch in combination with supplemental degradable intake protein (DIP) on the utilization of low-quality tallgrass-prairie hay. In Exp. 1, steers were given ad libitum access to forage and, except for the negative control (NC), received a limited supply (insufficient to maximize forage use) of supplemental DIP (.031% BW/d, DM basis). In addition to the NC, this experiment included four supplementation treatments in which one of four carbohydrate (CHO) sources (starch, glucose, fructose, or sucrose) was fed at .30% BW of DM/d. In Exp. 2, the treatment structure was identical except that the supplemental DIP level (.122% BW, DM basis) was near the level needed to maximize forage use. Forage OM intake (FOMI) was not affected (P> or =.26) by supplementation in Exp. 1 but was increased (P = .05) in Exp. 2. However, no difference (P> or =.46) in FOMI occurred among CHO sources in either experiment. Total OM and digestible OM intakes were increased (P<.01) by supplementation in both experiments. In Exp. 1, no difference (P>.26) in OM digestion (OMD) occurred among treatments. In Exp. 2, supplementation increased (P<.01) OMD. Additionally, sugars yielded a higher (P = .04) OMD than starch, and the monosaccharides yielded a higher (P = .02) OMD than sucrose. In Exp. 1, NDF digestion (NDFD) was decreased (P = .02) by supplementation, but no differences (P> or =.21) occurred among CHO sources. In Exp. 2, NDFD was increased (P = .03) by supplementation. Additionally, sugars led to higher (P = .05) NDFD than starch, and the monosaccharides led to higher (P = .03) NDFD than sucrose. In both experiments, discernible patterns were observable with regard to the effects of supplementation and type of supplemental CHO on ruminal fermentation characteristics. In conclusion, even though some consistency in fermentation profiles for different carbohydrate sources was evident in both experiments, forage intake and digestion responses were not consistent across experiments. This raises the possibility that carbohydrate source may interact with the amount of supplemental DIP fed and, as such, deserves additional investigation.