Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: Humpback whales bubblenet feeding in the coastal waters of the Antarctic Peninsula. Segre et al. (jeb243224) show that as the body size of whales increases, absolute maneuvering performance decreases. However, larger whales perform faster pitch-changes, rolls and turns than predicted by scaling theory. To compensate for their decreased agility, large whales adjust behaviorally by using turns that they can perform more effectively. Photo credit: Holly Fearnbach and John Durban; NMFS Permit No. 19091 and Antarctic Conservation Act Permit ACA 2017-029.
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INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
COMMENTARY
Evolution of plasticity: metabolic compensation for fluctuating energy demands at the origin of life
Summary: We propose that metabolic plasticity originated in prebiotic protocells and that it was a pre-requisite for effective transfer of genetic material across generations – the hallmark of Darwinian evolution.
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
Chickens have excellent sound localization ability
Summary: Analysis of behavioural data in relation to perceived physical cues indicates an excellent sound localization ability in chickens, even in comparison to the barn owl, which is a sound localization specialist.
Cranial kinesis facilitates quick retraction of stuck woodpecker beaks
Highlighted Article: Analysis of the mechanism by which black woodpeckers can quickly release a stuck beak, by a quick succession of upper and lower beak retraction.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Behavioural analysis of swarming mosquitoes reveals high hearing sensitivity in Anopheles coluzzii
Summary: Swarming mosquitoes change their wingbeat frequency and flight speed in response to sound pressure levels <20 dB, highlighting the importance of measuring hearing thresholds in free-flight.
High PCO2 does not alter the thermal plasticity of developing Pacific herring embryos during a marine heatwave
Summary: Pacific herring embryos tolerated exposure to a simulated marine heatwave, but exhibited significant metabolic trade-offs. Exposure to high PCO2 induced few metabolic effects and did not alter thermal plasticity.
Vocalization-associated respiration patterns: thermography-based monitoring and detection of preparation for calling
Summary: A thermography-based methodology for estimating breathing traces in free-ranging meerkats detects changes in respiration associated with the preparation and with the production of vocal signals by combining respiration monitoring with audio recordings.
The effects of posture on the three-dimensional gait mechanics of human walking in comparison with walking in bipedal chimpanzees
Summary: Differences between human crouched-posture gait and bipedal chimpanzee gait illustrate the limitations of using modern humans to infer the evolution of hominin bipedalism.
Insect cuticular hydrocarbon composition influences their interaction with spider capture threads
Summary: The adhesion mechanism of an early-evolved spider capture thread depends on the cuticular hydrocarbon composition of its potential insect prey: less-viscous hydrocarbons interact better with the thread, matching biophysical models of hydrocarbon phase behaviour.
Fiddler crab electroretinograms reveal vast circadian shifts in visual sensitivity and temporal summation in dim light
Summary: Following descriptions of striking morphological changes in fiddler crab compound eyes from day to night, we report evidence for great changes in the associated visual sensitivity in Gelasimus dampieri.
Insulin-like peptide 3 stimulates hemocytes to proliferate in anautogenous and facultatively autogenous mosquitoes
Summary: Many mosquitoes transmit disease-causing microbes by blood feeding on vertebrates. Insulin-like peptides stimulate immune cell proliferation in blood-feeding mosquitoes.
Thermoregulatory morphodynamics of honeybee swarm clusters
Highlighted Article: Honeybee swarm clusters change their shape to modulate their internal temperature in response to ambient temperature variations. Mechanical constraints and heat transfer govern their thermoregulatory morphing dynamics.
Active tactile exploration and tactually induced turning in tethered walking stick insects
Summary: The azimuth of contact location is a key parameter of active tactile exploration and tactually induced turning in stick insects.
Keeping your cool: thermoregulatory performance and plasticity in desert cricetid rodents
Summary: Compared with desert birds, desert rodents have very limited capacity for evaporative heat dissipation and likely rely on behavioral strategies to avoid heat and maintain a balanced water budget. Inefficient evaporative cooling, combined with limited thermal refugia, could indicate small mammal vulnerability to climate change.
Does a suspensory lifestyle result in increased tensile strength? Organ-level material properties of sloth limb bones
Summary: Sloth limb bones are more compliant in both compression and bending than those in upright mammalian taxa, suggesting modification for greater resistance to tensile limb loading related to their suspensory locomotion and posture. Novel data for suspensorial taxa expand understanding of the current range bone strength and elasticity properties for vertebrates.
How harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) encode goals relative to landmarks
Summary: When encoding goals in respect to landmarks, harbour seals choose the strategy depending on context but predominantly use a directional vector strategy.
Scaling of maneuvering performance in baleen whales: larger whales outperform expectations
Highlighted Article: Maneuvering performance decreases with body size in large whale species, but larger whales maneuver better than expected.
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.
