Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: Western and Clark's grebes run on water to attract a mate and establish pair bonding during a display called ‘rushing’. Grebes are the largest animals capable of running on water, an order of magnitude heavier than the next-largest, basilisk lizards. Clifton et al. (pp. 1235-1243) coupled highspeed videography of grebes in the wild with a laboratory experiment to explore the mechanisms that grebes use to successfully run on water. These birds use novel tactics to produce large supportive forces and minimize downward drag, including running at the highest step rate of any running bird studied. Photo credit: Barbara Scoles.
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INSIDE JEB
METHODS & TECHNIQUES
Generating an in vitro 3D cell culture model from zebrafish larvae for heart research
Summary: Spontaneously beating 3D ‘heart’ structures can be developed in vitro from larval zebrafish using a novel, fast and inexpensive method that could be employed in ecotoxicology and biomedical safety testing.
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Eye movements are coordinated with pectoral fin beats during locomotion in a marine teleost fish
Summary: Rapid gaze-shifting eye movements called saccades occur primarily during abduction of the pectoral fins, when a large amount of thrust is produced, possibly to stabilize retinal images during thrust-free phases.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
The role of egg–nest contrast in the rejection of brood parasitic eggs
Summary: We tested whether and how egg–nest visual contrast contributes to parasitic egg discrimination in American robins. We found no effect of egg–nest contrast on egg rejection rates, and conclude that egg–egg contrasts are the primary drivers of egg rejection in this system.
Analysis of muscle fibre input dynamics using a myog:GFP transgenic trout model
Summary: A myogenin:GFP transgenic trout line displaying fluorescence in small nascent muscle fibres was generated to trace the hyperplastic growth of myotomal muscle throughout the trout's lifespan and in various physiological contexts.
A meta-analysis of in vivo vertebrate cardiac performance: implications for cardiovascular support in the evolution of endothermy
Highlighted article: This meta-analysis examines cardiovascular data from ectothermic and endothermic vertebrates, at rest and during exercise, with the purpose of identifying key cardiovascular system variables in supporting the high metabolic rates of endotherms.
The activity of isolated neurons and the modulatory state of an isolated nervous system represent a recent behavioural state
Summary: In the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis, the behavioural state can produce long-term changes in individual neurons that persist even after neuron isolation from the nervous system as well as alterations in the neurochemical microenvironment of the central ganglia.
Adhesive pad differentiation in Drosophila melanogaster depends on the Polycomb group gene Su(z)2
Summary: A Drosophila melanogaster mutant that develops malformed adhesive organs loses the ability to climb vertical smooth surfaces.
Thermoregulatory consequences of salt loading in the lizard Pogona vitticeps
Summary: Gaping is proposed to be an important evaporative water loss response aimed at preventing overheating of the head and brain in bearded dragons.
Slime moulds use heuristics based on within-patch experience to decide when to leave
Summary: Brainless slime moulds use simple heuristics (‘rules of thumb’) to decide when to leave a patch; these heuristics differ between species.
The cost of digestion in the fish-eating myotis (Myotis vivesi)
Highlighted article: With a short digestive tract and high metabolic demand, the fish-eating myotis faces confounding digestive challenges. It meets these demands with an unusually energetically intense digestive response.
Ways to be different: foraging adaptations that facilitate higher intake rates in a northerly wintering shorebird compared with a low-latitude conspecific
Summary: Intrinsic characteristics of the foraging performance of two subspecies of a digestively constrained shorebird differ in physiological rather than behavioral or sensory aspects.
Distinct physiological strategies are used to cope with constant hypoxia and intermittent hypoxia in killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus)
Summary: The pattern of hypoxia exposure influences the mechanisms of acclimation, and the strategies used to cope with diel cycles of intermittent hypoxia may be distinct from those in constant hypoxia.
Reciprocal osmotic challenges reveal mechanisms of divergence in phenotypic plasticity in the killifish Fundulus heteroclitus
Summary: Transcriptomic and physiological methods implicate mechanisms underlying conserved and evolved changes in phenotypic plasticity in killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) following radiation from marine to freshwater habitats.
Trophic dynamics of scleractinian corals: stable isotope evidence
Summary: There is a rapid acquisition, exchange and long-term retention of heterotrophic nutrients within the coral–dinoflagellates symbiosis, whereas autotrophic nutrients are rapidly used to meet immediate metabolic needs.
Western and Clark's grebes use novel strategies for running on water
Highlighted article: As the largest water-running animals, western and Clark's grebes use three novel strategies to produce the hydrodynamic forces necessary to stay above the water surface.
The role of acid-sensing ion channels in epithelial Na+ uptake in adult zebrafish (Danio rerio)
Summary: Acid-sensing ion channels in zebrafish gill epithelium are involved in Na+ uptake.
Sex pheromones in mate assessment: analysis of nutrient cost of sex pheromone production by females of the moth Heliothis virescens
Summary: Pheromone biosynthesis uses insignificant quantities of the nutrients available and therefore imposes negligible metabolic cost to the moth Heliothis virescens.
Paracellular pathway remodeling enhances sodium secretion by teleost fish in hypersaline environments
Summary: In fish gills, secretion of NaCl into hypersaline environments requires restructuring of the specialized Na+-permeable paracellular pathway and an increase in conductance of the epithelium.
CORRESPONDENCE
CORRECTION
New funding schemes for junior faculty staff

In celebration of our 100th anniversary, JEB has launched two new grants to support junior faculty staff working in animal comparative physiology and biomechanics who are within five years of setting up their first lab/research group. Check out our ECR Visiting Fellowships and Research Partnership Kickstart Travel Grants.
JEB@100: an interview with Monitoring Editor Stuart Egginton

Stuart Egginton reveals how he overcame the challenges of being a comparative physiologist in a medical school and how he would tell his younger self to trust his instincts when pursuing new ideas.
Travelling Fellowships from JEB

Our Travelling Fellowships offer up to £3,000 to graduate students and post-doctoral researchers wishing to make collaborative visits to other laboratories. Next deadline to apply is 27 October 2023
Feedforward and feedback control in the neuromechanics

Auke J. Ijspeert and Monica A. Daley provide an overview of key knowledge gained from comparative vertebrate experiments and insights obtained from neuromechanical simulations and robotic approaches. Read the full Centenary Review Article here.
Light fine-tunes electric fish pulses to keep them in the shade

Weakly electric fish perceive their surroundings through electric chirrups and now Ana Camargo & colleagues have revealed that light fine-tunes the fish's electric pulses to ensure that they remain scheduled beneath the mats of vegetation they use for shelter, avoiding penetrating beams of light that could give them away.