Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: In addition to the more commonly observed slow crawling gait, sea stars exhibit a faster, oscillatory gait driven by synchronization of their podia. Ellers et al. (jeb242813) describe the kinematics of this newly recognized gait, called the bouncy gait, although there is no time during a stride when all podia are off the ground. Characteristic of this faster gait is that hodographs are clockwise and potential and kinetic energy are in phase, as they are in terrestrial vertebrate running. However, the ratio of these energies is very different, as is reflected in the Froude number, which is approximately 1–10 for terrestrial vertebrate running but 10−3–10−4 for sea stars using the oscillatory gait. Photo credit: Olaf Ellers.
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INSIDE JEB
COMMENTARY
Safety factors as a ‘design’ principle of animal form and function: an historical perspective
Summary: The concept of safety factors as a biological ‘design’ principle was first articulated in 1906 in physiology and medicine, foreshadowing the concept's rediscovery in comparative biomechanics and comparative physiology.
REVIEW
Communication with self, friends and foes in active-sensing animals
Summary: This Review considers constraints in echo- and electro-locating animals such as weakly electric fish, bats and odontocetes, which are subject to signal interference and eavesdropping that compromise information transmission.
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Postural control in the elephant
Summary: The amplitude of postural oscillation in elephants is comparable with that in dogs and other species, suggesting that some aspects of sensorimotor postural control do not scale with size.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Thermal history of alfalfa leafcutting bees affects nesting and diapause incidence
Summary: Low temperature stress during pupal development has long-term effects on parental investment and offspring traits, including diapause incidence and viability.
Kinematics of sea star legged locomotion
Summary: A novel bouncy gait in sea stars is unlike any known terrestrial gait: it has a Froude number 1000 times lower than locomoting terrestrial vertebrates, but a kinetic and potential energy pattern similar to that seen in running.
Rapid embryonic development supports the early onset of gill functions in two coral reef damselfishes
Summary: Gill development occurs extremely rapidly in coral reef damselfishes. Early embryonic changes suggest that this initiates key ionoregulatory and respiratory functions in preparation for a fast pace of life.
Immune and hormonal modulation in the postprandial period of bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus)
Summary: In bullfrogs, feeding modulates corticosterone, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio and bacterial killing ability; fasting increases stomach melatonin. This indicates hypothalamic–pituitary–interrenal axis activation in the postprandial period and a possible protective function of melatonin during fasting.
Beyond muscles: role of intramuscular connective tissue elasticity and passive stiffness in octopus arm muscle function
Summary: Intramuscular elastic elements and tensional stress allow for the differential use of arm muscle passive forces during motion in Octopus vulgaris.
Local thermal environment and warming influence supercooling and drive widespread shifts in the metabolome of diapausing Pieris rapae butterflies
Summary: Freeze avoidance is adversely affected by warming in diapausing Pieris rapae butterflies. Metabolomics suggests that this is driven by shifts in the abundance of hundreds of metabolites.
Evoked auditory potentials from African mole-rats and coruros reveal disparity in subterranean rodent hearing
Editor's choice: New data on subterranean rodents elucidate the evolution of poor hearing in mammals living underground.
A magnet attached to the forehead disrupts magnetic compass orientation in a migratory songbird
Summary: Orientation tests in a small migratory songbird provide clear evidence for the efficacy of the magnet approach for temporarily disrupting magnetic compass orientation, but also reveal its limitations in experiments under free-flight conditions.
Neuroligin 1 expression is linked to plasticity of behavioral and neuronal responses to sex pheromone in the male moth Agrotis ipsilon
Summary: Expression and behavioral analyses reveal that overexpression of neuroligin 1 in the antennal lobes is paralleled with age- and odor experience-related increase in sex pheromone responsiveness of male moths.
Does dietary β-carotene influence ontogenetic colour change in the southern corroboree frog?
Highlighted Article: Examination of the effects of long-term dietary β-carotene supplementation and ontogenetic colour change in an aposematic frog found evidence for consistent ontogenetic colour change, but no effect of dietary β-carotene.
Increased cellular detoxification, cytoskeletal activities and protein transport explain physiological stress in a lagoon sponge
Summary: The physiological impacts of climate change on thermally susceptible marine sponges can be elucidated through proteome dynamics.
Simple models highlight differences in the walking biomechanics of young children and adults
Highlighted Article: Differences in the mechanics and energetics of walking suggest that children cannot be simply modeled as scaled-down versions of adults.
Prenatal yolk corticosterone exposure promotes skeletal growth and induces oxidative imbalance in yellow-legged gull embryos
Summary: Corticosterone affects prenatal development and oxidative status in yellow-legged gull embryos.
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.