INSIDE JEB
SHORT COMMUNICATION
- Ammonia first? The transition from cutaneous to branchial ammonia excretion in developing rainbow trout is not altered by exposure to chronically high NaCl
Summary: Rearing larval rainbow trout in high NaCl reveals support for the ‘ammonia hypothesis’, which posits that ammonia excretion is the earliest gill function over development and may drive gill ontogeny.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Warm acclimation and oxygen depletion induce species-specific responses in salmonids
Summary: Overnight hypoxia combined with warm acclimation increases the hypoxia tolerance of salmonids while upper critical temperature is reduced in a species-specific manner.
- Characterization of the target of ivermectin, the glutamate-gated chloride channel, from Anopheles gambiae
Highlighted Article: The target of ivermectin, the glutamate-gated chloride channel, has four splice isoforms that are expressed in neuronal tissues in the head and thorax of A. gambiae across various physiological states.
- Mosquitocidal properties of IgG targeting the glutamate-gated chloride channel in three mosquito disease vectors (Diptera: Culicidae)
Highlighted Article: Antibodies against the glutamate-gated chloride channel of A. gambiae reduce the survivorship of three mosquito disease vectors.
- Intraspecific metabolic scaling exponent depends on red blood cell size in fishes
Summary: An integrative mechanism of metabolic scaling is proposed: species with a larger cell size have a smaller metabolic scaling exponent as they face more pronounced surface/volume limits.
- The potential effects of climate-change-associated temperature increases on the metabolic rate of a small Afrotropical bird
Summary: The physiological flexibility of Cape white-eyes will aid them in coping with the 4°C increase predicted for their range by 2080.
- Eye-independent, light-activated chromatophore expansion (LACE) and expression of phototransduction genes in the skin of Octopus bimaculoides
Highlighted Article: Octopus skin senses light independent of the eyes, causing chromatophores in the skin to expand, probably via the same r-opsin phototransduction genes used for vision.
- Transcranial light affects plasma monoamine levels and expression of brain encephalopsin in the mouse
Summary: Light exposure via ear canals has a significant effect on brain encephalopsin expression and plasma and adrenal gland monoamine production in the mouse.
- Burrowing by small polychaetes – mechanics, behavior and muscle structure of Capitella sp.
Summary: Even very small polychaetes can extend burrows through muds by fracture; helical muscles may enable worms to apply larger radial forces, facilitating burrow extension by fracture.
- Controlled feeding trials with ungulates: a new application of in vivo dental molding to assess the abrasive factors of microwear
Summary: Controlled feeding trials illustrate the effects of exogenous grit on the microscopic tooth wear of hoofed mammals, with implications for paleoecological analyses.
- Dynamic digestive physiology of a female reproductive organ in a polyandrous butterfly
Highlighted article: The bursa copulatrix, a female reproductive organ that processes the male ejaculate in butterflies and moths, exhibits extreme state-dependent proteolytic activity using a complement of nine highly expressed proteases.
- Spectral sensitivity of cone photoreceptors and opsin expression in two colour-divergent lineages of the lizard Ctenophorus decresii
Summary: Microspectrophotometry and opsin expression reveals four single cone classes without intraspecific differentiation, providing the first evidence of UV sensitivity in agamid lizards.
- Visual acuity trade-offs and microhabitat-driven adaptation of searching behaviour in psyllids (Hemiptera: Psylloidea: Aphalaridae)
Summary: Morphological and behavioural estimations of psyllid visual acuity suggest that varying needs of species for movement in relation to microhabitat preference mediate trade-offs between light sensitivity and spatial resolution.
- Diversity and evolution of sound production in the social behavior of Chaetodon butterflyfishes
Summary: Butterflyfishes produce a diversity of high- and low-frequency sounds for social communication in their noisy coral reef environment.
- Sound pressure enhances the hearing sensitivity of Chaetodon butterflyfishes on noisy coral reefs
Summary: Butterflyfish detect sound pressure to enhance hearing and aid social communication in a noisy environment.
- Visual phototransduction components in cephalopod chromatophores suggest dermal photoreception
Highlighted Article: Squid and cuttlefish skin chromatophores contain rhodopsin, Gqα and sTRP channels, which are necessary components for photoreception.
- The lateral line is necessary for blind cavefish rheotaxis in non-uniform flow
Summary: Flow characteristics impact the degree to which fish rely on lateral line information for rheotaxis.
This issue
Other journals from The Company of Biologists
Editorial – The changing of the guard
In his Editorial, Hans Hoppeler announces that he will be stepping down as Editor-in-Chief of JEB in July 2020. He reflects on the history of JEB, why he has enjoyed his tenure as JEB’s Editor-in-Chief and the recent developments in the publishing world.
Big Biology podcast
JEB is partnering with the Big Biology podcast and in this sponsored episode, JEB Editor Michael Dickinson talks to the Big Biology team about the aerodynamic mechanisms of insect flight, how insects control flight with their tiny 100k neuron brain and his recent JEB paper showing how fruit flies navigate using the sun and polarized light as a compass.
Editors’ choice – An appetite for invasion: digestive physiology, thermal performance and food intake in lionfish (Pterois spp.)
Invasive lionfish are a colossal problem in the Mediterranean Sea and western Atlantic Ocean. Now it turns out that they are successful invaders because they invest more energy in digestion than moving about.
Travelling Fellowship – Anti-ageing in the Greenland Shark
Find out how Pierre Delaroche’s Travelling Fellowship grant from the Journal of Experimental Biology took him to Greenland, where he gathered data to further understand the ageing process in the longest-living vertebrate known to science. Don’t miss the next application deadline for 2020 travel, coming up on 29 November. Where will your research take you?
Commentary – Yank: the time derivative of force is an important biomechanical variable in sensorimotor systems
The derivative of force with respect to time does not have a standard term in physics. In their new Commentary, David C. Lin and his colleagues propose that the term ‘yank’ should be used to denote the time derivative of force.
Runners waste energy every time their legs stop swinging, but now a team of scientists from the US and Canada have shown that a springy ankle tether can reduce runners’ energy costs by 6.4%, which is nearly the entire cost of swinging the limbs. Read the full research article here.
Journal of Experimental Biology is pleased to announce a new partnership with Publons! This allows reviewers to easily track and verify every review by choosing to add the review to their Publons profile when completing the review submission form. Publons also makes it simple for reviewers to showcase their peer review contributions in a format that can be included in job and funding applications (without breaking reviewer anonymity). Read the official announcement here!
preLights – Oxygenation properties of hemoglobin and the evolutionary origins of isoform multiplicity in an amphibious air-breathing fish, the blue-spotted mudskipper (Boleophthalmus pectinirostris)
Charlotte Nelson highlights work in mudskippers suggesting that a diversity in expressed hemoglobin isoforms is not required for the switch between aquatic and aerial respiration.