Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: A skunk gecko (Gekko vittatus) clings to a leaf before initiating a running sprint. Stark et al. (pp. 2435-2441) measured sprint velocity of five gecko species on either a hydrophilic or hydrophobic surface, when misted with water and when dry. Average vertical and horizontal velocity on each surface did not differ when the surface was wet or dry – in fact, it appeared some species ran faster on wet surfaces. Additional behaviours, such as stopping and slipping, showed species-level differences which highlight the need for future studies that focus on multiple species in more ecologically relevant conditions. Photo credit: Alyssa Stark.
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SHORT COMMUNICATION
Cold adaptation overrides developmental regulation of sarcolipin expression in mice skeletal muscle: SOS for muscle-based thermogenesis?
Summary: Sarcolipin plays an important role in muscle-based thermogenesis. It is abundantly expressed in neonatal mouse muscles and cold challenge prevents its developmental downregulation, indicating higher recruitment of muscle-based thermogenesis in neonates.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Host manipulation by an ichneumonid spider ectoparasitoid that takes advantage of preprogrammed web-building behaviour for its cocoon protection
Highlighted Article: Ichneumonid spider ectoparasitoids manipulate the web-building behaviour of host spiders to make the original web into an alternative ‘cocoon web’ by exploiting preprogrammed resting web construction to add specific thread decoration.
Ontogenetic propulsive transitions by Sarsia tubulosa medusae
Summary: For organisms that maintain morphology and swimming behaviour over ontogeny, we show that distinct propulsive wake structures alter swimming performance and energetics.
Sensory processing within cockroach antenna enables rapid implementation of feedback control for high-speed running maneuvers
Summary: Sensory processing by mechanoreceptors within the antenna of the American cockroach provides neural signals that enable rapid implementation of feedback control to stabilize high-speed running.
Multiple-stressor interactions influence embryo development rate in the American horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus
Summary: Multiple abiotic stressors can interact to affect the development rate of horseshoe crab embryos in ways that cannot be predicted from the effects of the stressors in isolation.
Preconditioning in the reef-building coral Pocillopora damicornis and the potential for trans-generational acclimatization in coral larvae under future climate change conditions
Highlighted Article: Preconditioning and trans-generational acclimatization may provide a buffer for reef-building corals against the stress of rapidly changing climate.
Elevated temperature causes metabolic trade-offs at the whole-organism level in the Antarctic fish Trematomus bernacchii
Summary: High-Antarctic fish exposed to a temperature increase of 2°C show an 84% reduction in growth, in contrast to a complete temperature compensation of routine metabolism.
The human iliotibial band is specialized for elastic energy storage compared with the chimp fascia lata
Summary: Musculoskeletal models developed from anatomical experiments reveal the biomechanical features that increase the potential of the human iliotibial band to store and recover elastic energy during bipedal walking compared with the chimp fascia lata.
Minor contributions of the maxillary sinus to the air-conditioning performance in macaque monkeys
Summary: Computational fluid dynamics simulations show that, in macaques, morphological variation in the nasal region, including the maxillary sinus, is not explained by the differences and transitions of habitat environment, including temperature and humidity.
Genetically based low oxygen affinities of felid hemoglobins: lack of biochemical adaptation to high-altitude hypoxia in the snow leopard
Highlighted Article: Snow leopards are high-altitude specialists that survive and function in low-oxygen conditions but, surprisingly, they possess characteristically feline hemoglobins with low-oxygen affinities and diminished capacities for allosteric regulatory control.
Pre-landing wrist muscle activity in hopping toads
Summary: Toads modulate wrist muscle activation patterns depending on how far they hop, presumably to tune wrist stiffness to the impending force of impact.
Morphology and burrowing energetics of semi-fossorial skinks (Liopholis spp.)
Summary: Burrowing skinks have a lower net cost of burrowing than tunnel-constructing endotherms and exhibit morphological specialisation associated with burrowing.
Skeletal muscle phenotype affects fasting-induced mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation flexibility in cold-acclimated ducklings
Summary: Starvation increases the energy coupling efficiency of muscle mitochondria, which triggers an economical management of fuels and might drive the fatty acid shift from oxidation to storage within the tissue.
Run don't walk: locomotor performance of geckos on wet substrates
Summary: Geckos running along wet substrates suffer no significant loss in locomotor performance over short distances.
A Chinese alligator in heliox: formant frequencies in a crocodilian
Highlighted Article: Frequency peaks in bellows of a Chinese alligator breathing a helium–oxygen mixture instead of air shift to significantly higher frequencies, showing that crocodilian vocalizations contain vocal resonance frequencies or ‘formants’.
Experimental manipulations of tissue oxygen supply do not affect warming tolerance of European perch
Summary: Manipulations of oxygen availability and transport capacity in European perch show that the acute upper thermal limit of fishes is not universally limited by oxygen supply.
Support for the beam focusing hypothesis in the false killer whale
Summary: Experimental results support the hypothesis that the false killer whale is ‘focusing’ its sonar beam, producing a narrower and more intense signal than that predicted by spherical spreading.
Vibrissal sensitivity in a harbor seal (Phoca vitulina)
Summary: Psychophysical testing of vibration detection in the harbor seal demonstrates acute sensitivity of the vibrissal system.
Modulation of work and power by the human lower-limb joints with increasing steady-state locomotion speed
Summary: Faster steady-state locomotion speeds are not achieved by proportional increases in lower-limb joint work and average power.
Functional development of carbon dioxide detection in the maxillary palp of Anopheles gambiae
Summary: Onset of host-seeking behaviour in malaria mosquitoes is correlated with an increased receptor gene expression, and physiological and behavioural sensitivity to CO2.
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.