In addition to breaking hard prey items, the teeth of durophagous predators must also resist failure under high loads. To understand the effects of morphology on tooth resistance to failure, finite element models were used to examine differences in total strain energy (J), first principal strain, and the distribution of strains in a diversity of canonical durophagous tooth morphologies. By changing the way loads were applied to the models, I was also able to model the effects of large and small prey items. Tooth models with overall convex morphologies have higher in-model strains than those with flat or concave occlusal surface. When a cusp is added to the tooth model, taller or thinner cusps increase in-model strain. While there is little difference in the relationships between tooth morphology and strain measurements for most models, there is a marked difference between effects of the large and small prey loads on the concave and flat tooth morphologies. Comparing these data with measurements of force required by these same morphologies to break prey items illustrates functional tradeoffs between the need to prevent tooth failure under high loads by minimizing in-tooth strain versus the drive to reduce the total applied force.
2023 JEB Outstanding Paper Prize shortlist and winner
The JEB Editors are delighted to announce the shortlisted authors for the 2023 JEB Outstanding Paper Prize. Read the winning paper - Tiny spies: mosquito antennae are sensitive sensors for eavesdropping on frog calls - by Hoover Pantoja-Sanchez and Brian Leavell from Ximena Bernal's lab at Purdue University, USA.
JEB Science Communication Workshop for ECRs
If you’re an early-career researcher interested in science communication and are attending the SEB Annual Conference in Prague this summer, come a day early and join the JEB Editors at a sci comm workshop to learn the key writing skills needed to promote your research to a broad audience beyond your peers (1 July at 14.30-17.30). Places are limited to 24 attendees, and applicants should apply through the SEB registration page by 30 April 2024.
Bridging the gap between controlled conditions and natural habitats in understanding behaviour
Novel technologies enable behavioural experiments with non-model species, in naturalistic habitats and with underexplored behaviours. In their Commentary, Scholz and colleagues discuss how to obtain a deeper understanding of the natural ecology and lifestyle of study animals.
Beluga metabolic measures could help save species
To help save animals from extinction, it’s important to understand what each species needs to survive. This led Jason John et al. to measure the metabolic rates of captive belugas to develop a ‘fish calculator’ showing that the whales need to eat ~23 salmon per day.
ECR Workshop on Positive Peer Review
Are you an ECR looking for tips on how to write concise, astute and useful manuscript reviews? If so, join the JEB Editors at a 2-hour JEB-sponsored Workshop on Positive Peer Review at the Canadian Society of Zoologists annual meeting in Moncton on 9 May 2024 at 13.00-15.00. There are 25 spaces for ECRs and selection is first come, first serve. To sign up, check the ECR Workshop box when you register for the CSZ meeting.
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