Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: An exaggerated nose-leaf is a distinguishing feature of bat species that produce echolocation signals consisting of both constant-frequency (CF) and frequency-modulated (FM) units. Other than the well-known Doppler shift compensation ability, any other potential benefit of the CF–FM signal was unknown in these bats. Lu et al. (jeb225284) provide evidence that two species of CF–FM bats, Hipposideros armiger and Hipposideros pratti (pictured), are able to differentially modulate the amplitude of the CF and FM units in the presence of masking noise, a process that, until now, has been observed only for human speech. Photo credit: Quan Zhou.
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INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
NEWS
COMMENTARY
The best predictions in experimental biology are critical and persuasive
Summary: We provide practical advice for using scientific predictions to design better experiments, and suggest that consideration of both the persuasiveness and criticality of predictions can speed scientific progress.
REVIEW
A comparative perspective on lung and gill regeneration
Summary: Remarkably, fish and amphibians can regenerate their gills throughout their lives. Here, we review this regenerative potential and discuss the common evolutionary and embryological origins shared by gills and mammalian lungs.
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
The formation of the atrioventricular conduction axis is linked in development to ventricular septation
Summary: Completion of ventricular septation is required for the presence of the atrioventricular conduction system (AVCS) in extant Archelosauria. AVCS formation is correlated with full ventricular septation in both evolution and development.
Artificial lighting impairs mate attraction in a nocturnal capital breeder
Summary: Artificial lighting at night (ALAN) impedes female glow worms’ ability to attract males with their glow, implicating ALAN in glow worm fecundity and long-term population survival.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
How gut microbiome interactions affect nutritional traits of Drosophila melanogaster
Summary: The impact of individual microorganisms in the Drosophila gut microbiome on insect nutrition, particularly lipid storage, is strongly dependent on both the presence of co-occurring microorganisms and host sex.
Humming hummingbirds, insect flight tones and a model of animal flight sound
Summary: One source of animal flight tones such as the humming of hummingbirds is Gutin or ‘load’ noise: the equal, opposite reaction to aerodynamic forces developed by flapping wings.
Friend or foe? Effects of host immune activation on the gut microbiome in the caterpillar Manduca sexta
Summary: Manduca sexta show evidence for physiological trade-offs between regulating the gut microbiome and defending themselves against systemic infections, with the response varying according to the number and type of concurrent immune challenges.
Additive effects of temperature and water availability on pregnancy in a viviparous lizard
Summary: Dehydration during pregnancy negatively affects maternal physiology but has little effect on reproductive output. These effects are additive to temperature regimes and therefore similar in warmer and colder environments.
Metabolic reduction after long-duration flight is not related to fat-free mass loss or flight duration in a migratory passerine
Summary: Long-duration flight in a migratory bird results in reduced overnight resting metabolic rate, but not peak metabolic rate, and metabolic reduction is not related to flight duration or change in lean body mass.
Echolocating bats exhibit differential amplitude compensation for noise interference at a sub-call level
Summary: Echolocating bats dynamically modulate vocalization amplitude in noise at a sub-call level, demonstrating a high degree of vocal flexibility.
Serotonergic control in initiating defensive responses to unexpected tactile stimuli in the trap-jaw ant Odontomachus kuroiwae
Highlighted Article: The serotonergic system in the nervous system contributes to the initiation of defensive turn responses to unexpected tactile stimuli in the trap-jaw ant.
Ecologically relevant thermal fluctuations enhance offspring fitness: biological and methodological implications for studies of thermal developmental plasticity
Editor's choice: Natural incubation temperatures enhance offspring survival in a lizard.
A highly stable, non-digestible lectin from Pomacea diffusa unveils clade-related protection systems in apple snail eggs
Summary: Analysis of key snail egg proteins shows evolutionary defensive trends associated with phylogenetic position, extending by convergent evolution the presence of plant-like defensive strategies not reported in other animals.
Warmer, faster, stronger: Ca2+ cycling in avian myocardium
Summary: Avian cardiac cells have large SR stores and large sarcolemmal Ca2+ currents; these features may be the key to high performance of the avian heart despite their reptilian-like ultrastructure.
Canopy parkour: movement ecology of post-hatch dispersal in a gliding nymphal stick insect, Extatosoma tiaratum
Summary: To effectively disperse from the forest floor into canopies, diurnally hatched stick insect nymphs use gravity and visual cues to navigate, jump to cross gaps and respond to threat or perturbation with self-dropping.
Oil gland and oil pores in billfishes: in search of a function
Summary: Analysis of the oil gland in billfishes suggests the oil serves multiple, non-mutually exclusive functions, including hydrodynamic, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects, and a role in predatory behaviour, shock absorption, buoyancy and vision.
Added mass in rat plantaris muscle causes a reduction in mechanical work
Summary: Adding mass to rat plantaris muscle decreases mechanical work per cycle during cyclic contractions.
A slow V̇O2 on-response allows comfortable adoption of aerobically unaffordable walking and running speeds on short stair ascents
Summary: Spontaneous walking and running upstairs, when limited to about two floors, is metabolically well tolerated despite the high mechanical power required, and is possible because of the slow V̇O2 on-kinetics.
Does control of insensible evaporative water loss by two species of mesic parrot have a thermoregulatory role?
Summary: Mesic parrots control their insensible evaporative water loss at varying ambient relative humidities to the same extent as an arid parrot, suggesting a thermoregulatory role.
CORRECTION
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.
Beluga metabolic measures could help save species
To help save animals from extinction, it’s important to understand what each species needs to survive. This led Jason John et al. to measure the metabolic rates of captive belugas to develop a ‘fish calculator’ showing that the whales need to eat ~23 salmon per day.
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.