Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: How warming, ocean acidification and traits such as body size interact to affect the physiological responses of marine organisms to climate change remains uncertain. Carey et al. (pp. 1178-1186) examined the metabolic response of the southeast Australian sea urchin Heliocidaris erythrogramma to temperature and lower seawater pH across a large body size range. All three factors strongly influenced metabolism, but their effects were completely partitioned and independent of each other. Yet this urchin was unable to compensate for increases in energetic demand by increased feeding rate, suggesting that this dominant rocky reef grazer may experience substantial energetic shortfalls in the near-future ocean. Photo credit: Nicholas Carey.
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INSIDE JEB
CLASSICS
REVIEW
Adaptations to polar life in mammals and birds
Summary: Polar animals are well adapted to the hardships of polar life.
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Dynamic changes in scope for heart rate and cardiac autonomic control during warm acclimation in rainbow trout
Summary: The progressively decreased resting heart rate during warm acclimation in rainbow trout is primarily explained by elevated inhibitory cholinergic tone and results in a gradual increase in heart rate scope.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Adaptive plasticity of spino-extraocular motor coupling during locomotion in metamorphosing Xenopus laevis
Highlighted Article: Adaptive neural plasticity of spinal locomotor-extraocular motor circuit coupling enables Xenopus frogs to continuously generate effective retinal image-stabilizing eye movements throughout the metamorphic transition from fish-like tadpole to quadrupedal adult.
Assessing acoustic communication active space in the Lusitanian toadfish
Summary: We estimated an active space of 6 to 13 m in a vocal fish using physiological and sound propagation approaches. We considered signal information perception rather than simply energy detection.
Mitochondrial physiology and reactive oxygen species production are altered by hypoxia acclimation in killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus)
Summary: Hypoxia acclimation reduces mitochondrial release of reactive oxygen species, without affecting mitochondrial respiration, in estuarine killifish.
Be ready at any time: postprandial synthesis of salivary proteins in salivary gland cells of the haematophagous leech Hirudo verbana
Highlighted Article: Leeches (Hirudo verbana) refill their salivary gland reservoirs very soon after a blood meal to readily prepare for another act of feeding, confirming that haematophagous leeches are opportunistic ectoparasites.
Sequential steps of macroautophagy and chaperone-mediated autophagy are involved in the irreversible process of posterior silk gland histolysis during metamorphosis of Bombyx mori
Summary: Macroautophagy and chaperone-mediated autophagy occur in a sequential manner during the posterior silk gland histolysis of Bombyx mori.
Neck length and mean arterial pressure in the sauropod dinosaurs
Summary: Adequate perfusion of the sauropod dinosaur brain is explained by the siphon principle, and maximum neck length in the fossil record may therefore be due to the siphon height limit.
Effect of body mass and melanism on heat balance in Liolaemus lizards of the goetschi clade
Summary: Body size and coloration influence heat exchange in Liolaemus lizards, suggesting complex thermoregulatory strategies that are probably regulated through physiology and behavior, which may enable these small lizards to inhabit the harsh Patagonian environment.
Predation risk modifies behaviour by shaping the response of identified brain neurons
Highlighted Article: Crabs from an isolated population under high risk of predation show stronger neuronal and behavioural responses to visual threats than those from a population at low risk of predation.
Sea urchins in a high-CO2 world: partitioned effects of body size, ocean warming and acidification on metabolic rate
Summary: Under climate change, the sea urchin Heliocidaris erythrogramma will be under a substantially increased energetic burden through the highly partitioned and independent effects of temperature, pH and body size on metabolism.
Forces generated during stretch in the heart of the lobster Homarus americanus are anisotropic and are altered by neuromodulators
Summary: In lobster hearts, SGRNFLRFamide and GYSNRNYLRFamide had anisotropic, inotropic effects on the biaxial and uniaxial length–tension curves measured along the longitudinal and transverse axes of beating hearts in control and stimulated preparations.
Juvenile Antarctic rockcod (Trematomus bernacchii) are physiologically robust to CO2-acidified seawater
Summary: Juvenile Antarctic emerald rockcod are robust to projected ocean acidification scenarios and may have the capacity to adjust for future increases in PCO2 by increasing acid-base compensation through increased ventilation.
Development of endothermy and concomitant increases in cardiac and skeletal muscle mitochondrial respiration in the precocial Pekin duck (Anas platyrhynchos domestica)
Summary: Noteworthy increases in cardiac ventricle mass and in skeletal and cardiac muscle oxidative phosphorylation capacity arise when Pekin ducks hatch and attain an endothermic metabolic phenotype.
Evidence of biphonation and source–filter interactions in the bugles of male North American wapiti (Cervus canadensis)
Highlighted Article: North American wapitis produce extremely high-pitched bugles that are incompatible with the dimensions of their vocal folds. Anatomical and acoustic investigations suggest plausible mechanisms responsible for the production of this extraordinary vocalisation.
Stress, nutrition and parental care in a teleost fish: exploring mechanisms with supplemental feeding and cortisol manipulation
Summary: Stress and nutritional condition are key modulators of physiological condition and reproductive success in a parental teleost fish.
Two isoforms of aquaporin 2 responsive to hypertonic stress in the bottlenose dolphin
Summary: Expression of alternatively splices AQP2 is ubiquitous in cetaceans, and it may be one of the molecules important for cellular osmotic tolerance throughout the body.
CHHBP: a newly identified receptor of crustacean hyperglycemic hormone
Summary: CHHBP is identified in Eriocheir sinensis as a putative receptor for crustacean hyperglycemic hormone (CHH), a neurohormone found only in arthropods.
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 of vertebrate locomotion
Auke J. Ijspeert and Monica A. Daley provide an overview of key knowledge on feedback and feedforward control gained from comparative vertebrate experiments 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.
