Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: This image shows a horizontal view down the constricting coil of a large reticulated python (Python reticulatus), with the python's head facing away from the camera and biting the prey within the coil formed by the python's body. Penning et al. (pp. 3364-3367) studied the scaling of constriction pressure in two species of giant pythons (P. reticulatus and P. molurus). They found that constriction performance increases with size and involves pressures that are high enough to stop the prey's circulation and possibly disrupt neural function in the brain. Photo credit: Brad Moon.
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INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
EDITORIAL
COMMENTARY
A classic model animal in the 21st century: recent lessons from the leech nervous system
Summary: Robust behaviors and a simple and accessible nervous system made the leech a favorite among systems neuroscientists. Increasing use of modern techniques helps explain its continued appeal.
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
Robust jumping performance and elastic energy recovery from compliant perches in tree frogs
Highlighted Article: Tree frogs can recover elastic energy lost to springy perches when jumping, allowing robust jumping performance across highly variable perch compliances.
The big squeeze: scaling of constriction pressure in two of the world's largest snakes, Python reticulatus and Python molurus bivittatus
Summary: Constriction performance increases with size in large pythons, and involves pressures that are high enough to stop the prey's circulation and possibly disrupt neural function in the brain.
Systems genomics analysis centered on epigenetic inheritance supports development of a unified theory of biology
Summary: A novel analysis of genomic, transcriptomic and epigenomic data supports integration of epigenetic inheritance with gene networks, molecular biology, physiology, and evolution, towards developing a unified theory of biology.
King penguins can detect two odours associated with conspecifics
Summary: King penguins are known to use acoustic cues to recognize individuals but these birds are also sensitive to the scent of their feathers and feces.
Local capillary supply in muscle is not determined by local oxidative capacity
Summary: Maximal oxygen demand from surrounding fibres supported by individual capillaries is highly variable in human muscle, suggesting that a fundamental review of determinants of muscle capillarisation is needed.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Chemical cues from fish heighten visual sensitivity in larval crabs through changes in photoreceptor structure and function
Highlighted Article: Larval crabs are more responsive to light following exposure to chemical cues from fish and this increase in photobehavior coincides with physiological and structural changes in the eye.
Camouflage during movement in the European cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis)
Summary: When crossing from one uniform background to another, a gradual change of camouflage in cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) is advantageous, preferably over the new background.
Polarization sensitivity as a visual contrast enhancer in the Emperor dragonfly larva, Anax imperator
Summary: Polarization sensitivity in the Emperor dragonfly larva, Anax imperator, reduces the contrast-degrading effect of scattered light under naturalistic horizontally polarized underwater lighting conditions.
Effects of stride frequency and foot position at landing on braking force, hip torque, impact peak force and the metabolic cost of running in humans
Summary: Variation in stride frequency and foot position at landing affects the cost of running and the generation of impact peaks in human runners.
Relationships among plumage coloration, blood selenium concentrations and immune responses of adult and nestling tree swallows
Summary: Selenium, an important micronutrient whose influence on the physiology of wild birds is poorly understood, and structural plumage coloration are related to innate immunity in adult and nestling tree swallows.
Decreasing methane yield with increasing food intake keeps daily methane emissions constant in two foregut fermenting marsupials, the western grey kangaroo and red kangaroo
Highlighted Article: Methane emissions from kangaroos are comparable with those of other non-ruminant foregut fermenting herbivores, and may be a function of digesta processing rather than harbouring a unique low-methane producing microbial community.
Fin ray sensation participates in the generation of normal fin movement in the hovering behavior of the bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus)
Summary: Sensory feedback from the fin rays and membrane of bluegill sunfish is important for generating normal hover movements but is not necessary for generating rhythmic fin movement.
Using an abstract geometry in virtual reality to explore choice behaviour: visual flicker preferences in honeybees
Summary: Visual flicker preferences in honeybees is shown by allowing bees to walk their way through multiple decision points in a recursive closed-loop environment.
Heat transfer in fish: are short excursions between habitats a thermoregulatory behaviour to exploit resources in an unfavourable thermal environment?
Summary: Quantification of fish body temperature in step change experiments enables theoretical predictions of maximum excursion duration between feeding (warm) and resting (cold) areas relative to the temperature tolerance of the species.
The impact of high-salt exposure on cardiovascular development in the early chick embryo
Summary: Excess generation of ROS could play an important role in high-salt-induced defects in heart and angiogenesis in the chick.
Gas exchange and dive characteristics of the free-swimming backswimmer Anisops deanei
Highlighted Article: Exotic gas experiments and mathematical modelling show that backswimmers extend dive duration by extracting 20% of their O2 directly from the water.
A crayfish molar tooth protein with putative mineralized exoskeletal chitinous matrix properties
Summary: A novel protein from crayfish molar tooth is involved in calcium phosphate and carbonate precipitation and may prove important for bone and dental regeneration.
Differences in the escape response of a grapsid crab in the field and in the laboratory
Summary: Grapsid crabs show flexibility of predator avoidance behaviours; differences in these escape behaviours occur under natural versus laboratory conditions.
Pitch perfect: how fruit flies control their body pitch angle
Summary: High-speed videography of free-flying Drosophila reveals their active control mechanism for counter-pitching perturbations, which is rapid, robust and consistent with linear control theory.
Aeroelastic flutter of feathers, flight and the evolution of non-vocal communication in birds
Summary: Feathers flutter to produce sound in a wide array of birds; flutter, percussion and wing whirring account for most of the evolutionary diversity of non-vocal communication in birds.
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.
How a macrourid fish remains buoyant at depths it should be unable to reach
Fish with swimbladders should not be capable of descending below 7200m, but when Alan Jamieson and Todd Bond spotted a macrourid fish at 7259m, they knew they had seen something miraculous. Working with Imantes Priede, they reveal that the swimbladder of a 1 kg fish could hold 37.9 g of oxygen, sufficient to offset the weight of the fish's bones, and take 221-440 days to fill, which is plausible because it takes years for the fish to descend to such depths.
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.