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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: The hydromedusa Colobonema sericeum lives at depths around 400 m in the temperate Pacific Ocean. The structural colours at either side of the swimming bell are associated with a thin epithelial layer of regularly arranged circular muscle fibres that can generate both fast and slow swimming. However, the giant axons that conduct impulses during fast swimming in some related species are absent in C. sericeum. This observation has allowed Meech et al. (jeb239830) to pinpoint the phylogenetic branch point leading to giant axon-based swimming in the Trachymedusae. Photo credit: Steven Haddock, MBARI.
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Resilience of cardiac performance in Antarctic notothenioid fishes in a warming climate
Summary: Here, we review some aspects of cardiovascular performance and associated biochemical and molecular processes that display thermal plasticity in Antarctic fishes, and consider how these will affect their survival in a warming climate.
The call of the wild: using non-model systems to investigate microbiome–behaviour relationships
Summary: We highlight current and emerging questions about the role of the microbiome in mediating social behaviour and discuss novel mechanisms that may mediate these effects. Non-model organisms are well suited to address these questions.
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
Hot days are associated with short-term adrenocortical responses in a southern African arid-zone passerine bird
Editor's choice: A cooperatively breeding passerine bird in the Kalahari Desert experiences very hot days as stressors, with concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites increasing with daily maximum air temperatures above 38°C.
Age-related reductions in the number of serial sarcomeres contribute to shorter fascicle lengths but not elevated passive tension
Summary: The increased passive tension in muscles of older individuals is partly due to fascicle length decreases caused by reductions in serial sarcomere number, whereas sarcomere length remains unchanged.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Scavenging of reactive oxygen species mimics the anoxic response in goldfish pyramidal neurons
Summary: Analysis of pyramidal neurons of anoxia-tolerant goldfish reveals that a decrease in reactive oxygen species (ROS) concentration triggers the anoxic response, indicating a role for ROS as a low-oxygen signal.
Plasticity of non-shivering thermogenesis and brown adipose tissue in high-altitude deer mice
Summary: Non-shivering thermogenesis shows phenotypic plasticity with chronic cold hypoxia in highland deer mice, but not in lowland conspecifics. Differences in brown adipose tissue mitochondrial function partially explain these changes.
Hovering flight in hummingbird hawkmoths: kinematics, wake dynamics and aerodynamic power
Summary: Hummingbird hawkmoths hover with an inclined stroke plane, which generates a highly complicated wake. The wake topology differs from idealized vortex ring models assumed in aerodynamic models, as well as derived induced power requirements.
Dimorphic cocoons of the robin moth, Hyalophora cecropia, reflect the existence of two distinct architectural syndromes
Highlighted Article: Architecturally dimorphic Hyalophora cocoons constructed by conspecifics reflect the existence of two distinct architectural syndromes, with each providing a selective advantage for specific cocoon morphology under different environmental conditions.
Acoustically eavesdropping bat predators take longer to capture katydid prey signalling in aggregation
Summary: Signalling in aggregation benefits katydid prey by delaying their capture by bat predators, giving them a window of opportunity to escape predation.
Developmental, cellular and biochemical basis of transparency in clearwing butterflies
Summary: Transparency is a fascinating, yet poorly studied, optical property in living organisms. We elucidated the developmental processes underlying scale and nanostructure formation in glasswing butterflies, and their roles in generating anti-reflective properties.
Maternal glucocorticoids have minimal effects on HPA axis activity and behavior of juvenile wild North American red squirrels
Summary: Elevated maternal glucocorticoids have minimal effects on offspring personality or HPA axis dynamics in North American red squirrels. Regardless of maternal glucocorticoid treatment, more active and aggressive squirrels exhibited lower adrenal reactivity.
Two swimming modes in Trachymedusae; bell kinematics and the role of giant axons
Summary: 18S ribosomal DNA data support anatomical, kinematic and electrophysiological evidence that identifies the phylogenetic branch point giving rise to giant-axon-based fast and slow swimming in the Rhopalonematidae.
Molecular and physiological characterization of a crustacean cardioactive signaling system in a lophotrochozoan – the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas): a role in reproduction and salinity acclimation
Summary: A functional crustacean cardioactive signaling system with potential roles in reproduction and hyposaline acclimation was characterized in a euryhaline mollusk.
Algorithms underlying flexible phototaxis in larval zebrafish
Highlighted Article: Description of a novel behavioral algorithm that drives phototaxis in larval zebrafish: fish exhibit homeostatic control over the luminance of their surroundings with a shifting set point.
The urban-adapted underground mosquito Culex pipiens form molestus maintains exogenously influenceable circadian rhythms
Summary: The disease vector mosquito Culex pipiens form molestus retains exogenously influenced circadian rhythms, but lacks the ability to diapause, possibly due to a deletion in its Helicase domino gene.
Drosophila acquires seconds-scale rhythmic behavior
Summary: A new temporal conditioning paradigm using electric shock and time–frequency analysis of fly behavioral responses shows they can precisely reproduce seconds-range time intervals.
The relationship between myonuclear number and protein synthesis in individual rat skeletal muscle fibres
Highlighted Article: Myonuclear number per unit fibre length correlates with basal muscle protein synthesis in individual rat muscle fibres, but not under conditions of elevated muscle protein synthesis following intense muscle contraction.
Daily temperature cycles prolong lifespan and have sex-specific effects on peripheral clock gene expression in Drosophila melanogaster
Summary: Cycling ambient temperatures extends lifespan in Drosophilamelanogaster and induces robust cycling in a stress-response gene in both sexes, but affects clock gene expression differently in male and female flies.
The neuropeptide RhoprCCHamide2 inhibits serotonin-stimulated transcellular Na+ transport across the anterior midgut of the vector of Chagas disease, Rhodnius prolixus
Summary: The diuretic hormone serotonin triggers active Na+ transport across the crop of Rhodnius prolixus through amiloride-sensitive Na+ channels and Na+/K+-ATPases and is modulated by the neuropeptide RhoprCCHamide2.
Autotomy-induced effects on the locomotor performance of the ghost crab Ocypode quadrata
Summary: Despite limb loss, ghost crabs can run at fast running speeds by altering kinematics and limb couplings.
Beyond the Kármán gait: knifefish swimming in periodic and irregular vortex streets
Summary: Knifefish use alternate gaits depending on the dynamics of the flow perturbation. In particular, vortex-induced vibration has marked effects on locomotor performance of swimmers when compared with Kármán vortex streets.
Exposure to artificial light at night alters innate immune response in wild great tit nestlings
Summary: Exposure to artificial light at night changes aspects of baseline innate immunity and the response towards an immune challenge in wild great tit nestlings, which is probably mediated by reduced levels of melatonin.
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.