Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: A female praying mantis (Tenodera sinensis) enjoys a meal. Bertsch and colleagues (jeb197673) investigated the effects of increasing satiety levels on hunting strategies. As the mantises fed on cockroach nymphs, they attended to a more restricted range of targets, ultimately switching to an ambush strategy. In order to obtain quantitative data, the team developed a virtual prey system that demonstrated reductions in both the distance and range of targets to which the praying mantis would attend. The same effects could be generated by injection of the satiety hormone, insulin. Photo credit: David Bertsch.
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INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
REVIEW
Path integration: how details of the honeybee waggle dance and the foraging strategies of desert ants might help in understanding its mechanisms
Summary: This Review considers how the complexities of the honeybee waggle dance and ant path integration during foraging might provide additional constraints when modelling path integration and its underlying neural mechanisms.
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Turtles maintain mitochondrial integrity but reduce mitochondrial respiratory capacity in the heart after cold acclimation and anoxia
Summary: Inhibition of mitochondrial respiration rate and production of reactive oxygen species during cold acclimation and anoxia, while preserving mitochondrial content and morphology, is central to the anoxia tolerance of freshwater turtle hearts.
METHODS & TECHNIQUES
Multichannel stroboscopic videography (MSV): a technique for visualizing multiple channels for behavioral measurements
Summary: Multichannel stroboscopic videography (MSV) is a technique for automated measurements of multiple types of visual information using a single camera.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Honey bees flexibly use two navigational memories when updating dance distance information
Summary: Individual honey bees flexibly use recently acquired navigation experience and previously stored navigation information to generate waggle dance duration for a novel feeder distance.
Body condition impacts blood and muscle oxygen storage capacity of free-living beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas)
Summary: The relationship between body condition and blood and muscle O2 stores in beluga whales may represent a vicious cycle, in which decreases in condition impair foraging ability, leading to further reductions in condition.
Predatory behavior changes with satiety or increased insulin levels in the praying mantis (Tenodera sinensis)
Highlighted Article: Prey-directed behavior changes as a praying mantis (Tenodera sinensis) becomes more sated; this modulation is paralleled by injection of the peptide hormone insulin.
Distinctive mechanisms underlie the emission of social electric signals of submission in Gymnotus omarorum
Summary: The modulation of the excitability of neurons of the electromotor command nucleus emerges as a novel cellular mechanism expanding the repertoire of electric communication signals in freshwater weakly electric fish.
Dragonflies use underdamped pursuit to chase conspecifics
Highlighted Article: Territorial dragonflies pursuing conspecifics use an underdamped interception strategy, resulting in oscillating pursuit paths that may serve to intimidate or herd intruders out of the territory.
Unique evolution of vitamin A as an external pigment in tropical starlings
Summary: An African tropical starling has the physiological capacity to deposit retinol in its integument and create bright yellow coloration, revealing a new class of external biological pigments.
Sea chordophones make the mysterious /Kwa/ sound: identification of the emitter of the dominant fish sound in Mediterranean seagrass meadows
Summary: Morphological, histological and electrophysiological characterization of the sound apparatus, interpreted with visual and acoustic recordings conducted in semi-natural conditions, identify Scorpaena spp. as the species complex emitting the /Kwa/ sound.
A cognitive map in a poison frog
Editors' Choice: A modification of the classic Morris water maze enabled the first demonstration of a cognitive map in a frog.
Effects of early nutritional stress on physiology, life histories and their trade-offs in a model ectothermic vertebrate
Summary: Early-life nutritional stress has immediate, but no lasting effects, on immune function or stress physiology and incites a compensatory growth response that has long-term effects on fitness and survival.
Comparing thermal performance curves across traits: how consistent are they?
Summary: Examination of the extent to which thermal performance curves differ across traits and the timing of the temperature exposure, with regard to predictions of species responses to climate change.
Selenoprotein T as a new positive inotrope in the goldfish, Carassius auratus
Summary: SELENOT, a thioredoxin-like protein, is proposed as a cardiac modulator in the goldfish Carassius auratus, with a potential role in hypoxia tolerance.
Panorama similarity and navigational knowledge in the nocturnal bull ant Myrmecia midas
Summary: Myrmecia midas show navigational performance differences based on foraging experience. Differences in navigational success correspond with the degree of similarity between the panorama at release locations and panoramas at known locations.
Tibialis anterior tendinous tissue plays a key role in energy absorption during human walking
Summary: The tendinous tissues of the tibialis anterior play a key role in absorbing mechanical energy as the foot contacts the ground, as well as helping to power rapid acceleration of the ankle into dorsiflexion to aid foot clearance during leg swing.
Septate junction in the distal ileac plexus of larval lepidopteran Trichoplusia ni: alterations in paracellular permeability during ion transport reversal
Summary: A reduction in paracellular permeability occurs when the Malpighian tubule of caterpillars switches from ion secretion to ion reabsorption, preventing harmful back-flux of organics into the haemolymph.
The mineralocorticoid receptor contributes to barrier function of a model fish gill epithelium
Summary: Cortisol relays its action via glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptors (MRs) in fish tissues; mr knockdown in a cultured trout gill epithelium shows that MRs play a role in cortisol-mediated tightening of this tissue.
Motion-in-depth perception and prey capture in the praying mantis Sphodromantis lineola
Summary: Both stereoscopic visual cues and changing luminance cues can enable detection of approaching objects. We show that mantises use looming rather than stereo cues to detect motion-in-depth.
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.