Millipedes have developed specialized chemical defenses against predators and parasites. Here we investigated the strong repellent odour emitted by two julids from the Caucasus, Syrioiulus continentalis (Attems, 1903) and Pachyiulus krivolutskyi Golovatch, 1977. By NMR and GC–MS, as well as compound synthesis, we identified the major compound in the secretions of both species as 4-ethylhex-1-en-3-one. A second compound was ten...

Arctic ecosystems are changing rapidly in response to climate warming. While Arctic mammals are highly evolved to these extreme environments, particularly with respect to their stress axis, some species may have limited capacity to adapt to this change. We examined changes in key components of the stress axis (cortisol and its carrier protein—corticosteroid binding globulin [CBG]) in polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) from wester...