Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: A Cataglyphis fortis desert ant tethered on top of a newly designed air-cushioned, spherical treadmill is tested for its navigation performance under natural open sky in its North African desert habitat. Dahmen et al. (pp. 634–644) found that the homing runs of desert ants tested in the field and indoors in the laboratory on the treadmill are comparable to natural homing runs on open ground. The schematic drawing shows the fictive homing trajectory of one ant with the straight approach phase and the looping search phase recorded by the treadmill system. Photo credit: Matthias Wittlinger.
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INSIDE JEB
NEWS
CLASSICS
REVIEW
Mussel adhesion – essential footwork
Summary: Moisture is the nemesis of synthetic adhesives yet presents no impediment to the underwater adhesion of sessile organisms. Capturing wet bioadhesion for technology is not possible without fundamental biological insights.
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Right-to-left shunt has modest effects on CO2 delivery to the gut during digestion, but compromises oxygen delivery
Summary: Shunting in reptiles is ineffective for regulating gastric CO2 supply but effectively reduces blood O2 levels.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Longitudinal and transversal displacements between triceps surae muscles during locomotion of the rat
Summary: Differences in anatomy, morphology and neural drive between rat ankle plantar-flexors cause substantial intermuscular displacement during locomotion, which may affect mechanical interactions between muscle bellies and tendons.
Can multi-generational exposure to ocean warming and acidification lead to the adaptation of life history and physiology in a marine metazoan?
Summary: The multi-generational acclimation capacity of a species to ocean warming and acidification is determined by the flexibility of its mitochondrial electron transport system.
Calorespirometry reveals that goldfish prioritize aerobic metabolism over metabolic rate depression in all but near-anoxic environments
Summary: Although the goldfish's anoxia tolerance results from conserved energy via metabolic depression, its hypoxia tolerance results from exceptional O2 extraction abilities capable of supporting routine metabolic rate even in severe hypoxia.
The effect of food quality during growth on spatial memory consolidation in adult pigeons
Summary: Food quality during development had long-lasting effects on memory in pigeons, with a moderate nutritional deficit improving spatial memory performance in a foraging context.
Living in flowing water increases resistance to ultraviolet B radiation
Highlighted Article: Increased physical activity increases antioxidant defence mechanisms and thereby reduces oxidative stress and increases resilience to the negative effects of UV-B radiation, so that locomotor performance can be maintained in environments exposed to solar radiation.
Aedes aegypti Rhesus glycoproteins contribute to ammonia excretion by larval anal papillae
Summary: Rh proteins are expressed in anal papillae of larval Aedes aegypti, where they partake in ammonia excretion. Results suggest that AeRh50-1 may transport CO2.
Physostomous channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, modify swimming mode and buoyancy based on flow conditions
Summary: Channel catfish adopted negative buoyancy in lentic environments, but maintained buoyancy closer to neutral in lotic environments to optimise their locomotion.
Dietary fat alters the response of hypothalamic neuropeptide Y to subsequent energy intake in broiler chickens
Summary: Hypothalamus-based self-adjustment in response to dietary fat can vary among lean and fat individuals, and depends upon whole-body energy reserves and feeding experience.
Antioxidants and embryo phenotype: is there experimental evidence for strong integration of the antioxidant system?
Summary: Weak relationships exist between several yolk antioxidants, oxidative status markers in the yolk, liver and brain, and embryo morphology in the yellow-legged gull.
Contrasting effects of increased yolk testosterone content on development and oxidative status in gull embryos
Summary: Increased yolk testosterone concentration in yellow-legged gulls promotes body mass growth of embryos but reduces brain size. Moreover, sex differences in brain size exist among control embryos.
Naturalistic path integration of Cataglyphis desert ants on an air-cushioned lightweight spherical treadmill
Highlighted Article: Cataglyphis ants are shown to exhibit naturalistic navigation and typical homing behaviour, with a straight approach phase and looping search phase, on newly designed, fast-responding, lightweight, air-cushioned treadmill.
Poison and alarm: the Asian hornet Vespa velutina uses sting venom volatiles as an alarm pheromone
Summary: The Asian hornet Vespa velutina uses sting venom volatiles as an alarm pheromone.
The evolution of jaw protrusion mechanics is tightly coupled to bentho-pelagic divergence in damselfishes (Pomacentridae)
Summary: Evolutionary analyses of both form and function in damselfishes demonstrate tight linkage between jaw protrusion ability and the repeated convergence on predominantly benthic or predominantly pelagic feeding niches.
Effects of elevated carbon dioxide and temperature on locomotion and the repeatability of lateralization in a keystone marine mollusc
Highlighted Article: Elevated levels of CO2 affect route finding, locomotion and repeatability of lateralization of a keystone marine mollusc in a T-maze.
Orally administered fatty acids enhance anorectic potential but do not activate central fatty acid sensing in Senegalese sole post-larvae
Summary: Different fatty acids induced changes in the expression of neuropeptides implicated in the control of food intake through a mechanism not involving central fatty acid-sensing systems.
Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) use adaptable transportation networks to track changes in resource quality
Highlighted Article: Ants track changes in food quality by building flexible transportation networks.
Stellate and pyramidal neurons in goldfish telencephalon respond differently to anoxia and GABA receptor inhibition
Summary: In the anoxia-tolerant goldfish brain, pyramidal and stellate neurons depolarize close to the GABA-A receptor reversal potential during anoxia, which makes pyramidal neurons less and stellate neurons more active.
Batoid locomotion: effects of speed on pectoral fin deformation in the little skate, Leucoraja erinacea
Summary: Three-dimensional analysis of pectoral fin movement in the little skate during swimming reveals substantial changes in shape as speed increases.
Enhanced fertility and chill tolerance after cold-induced reproductive arrest in females of temperate species of the Drosophila buzzatii complex
Summary: Temperate but not tropical females of the Drosophila buzzatii complex under reproductive arrest improve fitness after cold acclimation. Such cold adaptation could contribute to spread temperate species into cooler environments.
Photoperiod but not food restriction modulates innate immunity in an opportunistic breeder, Loxia curvirostra
Summary: Long day lengths and induced sickness, but not food restriction, increase multiple measures of innate immunity in the red crossbill, an opportunistically breeding bird.
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.