INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Mechanisms and costs of mitochondrial thermal acclimation in a eurythermal killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus)
Summary: Eurythermal teleosts suppress mitochondrial respiration through NADH dehydrogenase (complex I) with no detectable loss of function during acute temperature shifts.
- Aquatic burst locomotion by hydroplaning and paddling in common eiders (Somateria mollissima)
Summary: Eider ducks are able to exceed their hull speed through the use of two kinematically distinct aquatic surface burst locomotive behaviors.
- Embryo oxygenation in pipefish brood pouches: novel insights
Highlighted Article: paternal embryo oxygenation improves with male size in pipefish but the notion of syngnathid closed brood pouches as well-oxygenated structures promoting the evolution of larger eggs is rejected.
- Vocal performance affects metabolic rate in dolphins: implications for animals communicating in noisy environments
Summary: Increased vocal effort by bottlenose dolphins has metabolic costs at the individual level, indicating energetic consequences for wild populations of marine mammals communicating in noise-polluted environments.
- Jumping mechanisms and strategies in moths (Lepidoptera)
Summary: Moths propel jumping by rapid movements of the middle and hind legs with or without wing movements in three distinct strategies.
- Body mass affects seasonal variation in sickness intensity in a seasonally breeding rodent
Summary: Inducing short-day-like seasonal body mass loss in hamsters housed in a long-day photoperiod attenuates energetically expensive sickness symptoms, such that they correspond with natural seasonal variation in sickness intensity.
- Oxygen safety margins set thermal limits in an insect model system
Highlighted Article: Larval but not pupal Bombyx mori are oxygen limited, with hypoxia significantly decreasing CTmax, suggesting that oxygen safety margins set thermal limits in air-breathing invertebrates.
- Modulation of heart rate response to acute stressors throughout the breeding season in the king penguin Aptenodytes patagonicus
Summary: Acute fight-or-flight stress responses to experimental stressors are modulated according to breeding advancement in the king penguin.
- Behaviour of the plathelminth Symsagittifera roscoffensis under different light conditions and the consequences for the symbiotic algae Tetraselmis convolutae
Summary: Symsagittifera roscoffensis lives in a photoautotroph symbiosis with the green algae Tetraselmis convolutae. The two partners have different preferences in light exposure.
- Memory block: a consequence of conflict resolution
Summary: Snails engage in the concept of ‘necessity knows no law’ as memories not to respond to a food substance are overpowered by hunger.
- Avian thermoregulation in the heat: scaling of heat tolerance and evaporative cooling capacity in three southern African arid-zone passerines
Highlighted Article: Heat tolerance varies with body size in African weavers in the Kalahari Desert.
- Effects of the juvenile hormone analogue methoprene on rate of behavioural development, foraging performance and navigation in honey bees (Apis mellifera)
Summary: The juvenile hormone analogue methoprene accelerates the onset of foraging behaviour in worker honey bees (Apis mellifera) but also reduces forager performance and longevity, indicating a limitation to the plasticity of bees.
- The roles of visual parallax and edge attraction in the foraging behaviour of the butterfly Papilio xuthus
Summary: Freely flying butterflies use motion cues to estimate the proximity of targets.
- Sexual differences in exploration behavior in Xenopus tropicalis?
Summary: Differences in exploration behavior exist between male and female frogs, with males exploring novel environments more than females; this behavior is decoupled from performance in both sexes.
- Disruption of amylase genes by RNA interference affects reproduction in the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas
Summary: Disruption of amylase gene expression reduces absorption efficiency and constrains reproduction in oysters; the reduction in energy intake is insufficient to affect reproduction, suggesting that dsRNA causes disturbances that increase maintenance costs.
- Locomotor corollary activation of trigeminal motoneurons: coupling of discrete motor behaviors
Highlighted Article: During swimming in Xenopus tadpoles, a locomotor corollary discharge is transmitted to the trigeminal nucleus, which causes retraction of the tentacles to streamline body shape and/or prevent sensory reafference.
- Directional sound sensitivity in utricular afferents in the toadfish Opsanus tau
Summary: Utricular afferents in the toadfish possess directional sound sensitivity and may contribute to the detection and localization of sound-specific intraspecific vocalizations.
- Scaling of left ventricle cardiomyocyte ultrastructure across development in the kangaroo Macropus fuliginosus
Summary: Scaling of cardiomyocyte ultrastructure across development of the kangaroo is associated with cellular transformation and improved contractile performance during in-pouch growth followed by a decrease in cardiac development and perfusion requirements during post-pouch growth.
- Aquatic surface respiration and swimming behaviour in adult and developing zebrafish exposed to hypoxia
Summary: Aquatic surface respiration in fish is a behavioural response that is reliant upon input from peripheral oxygen chemoreceptors.
- Dynamic changes in global and gene-specific DNA methylation during hibernation in adult thirteen-lined ground squirrels, Ictidomys tridecemlineatus
Summary: Dramatic changes in DNA methylation accompany stages of torpor during mammalian hibernation in the thirteen-lined ground squirrel.
This issue
Other journals from The Company of Biologists
JEB and COVID-19
We are aware that the COVID-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on researchers worldwide. The Editors of all The Company of Biologists’ journals have been considering ways in which we can alleviate concerns that members of our community may have around publishing activities during this time. Read about the actions we are taking at this time.
Please don’t hesitate to contact the Editorial Office if you have any questions or concerns.
Opportunities during challenging times
Editor-in-Chief Hans Hoppeler and Monitoring Editor Craig Franklin highlight new initiatives at JEB in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To continue advancing knowledge in the field, we are encouraging proposals for meta-analysis papers and timely Reviews and Commentaries within the JEB remit. New grant categories analogous to the Travelling Fellowships will fund collaborative data projects and the development of online resources for early-career researchers. Read their Editorial to find out more.
The OxymiR response to oxygen limitation
In their Review, Hanane Hadj-Moussa and Ken Storey assess OxymiRs in over 20 animal species. They reveal a lack of universal microRNA strategy, showing that instead there are species-specific responses to oxygen deprivation.
IReL joins The Company of Biologists Read & Publish deals
Researchers at nine institutions in Ireland can now publish an unlimited number of Open Access articles in JEB, immediately and at no cost to them, following a three-year Read & Publish agreement between The Company of Biologists and IReL. Find out more and see the growing list of participating institutions.
In the field: an interview with Craig Franklin
We are expanding the Conversation series to focus on the experiences of researchers out in the field. We’ll go behind the scenes as researchers tell us about their experiences on trawlers, in deserts, up mountains and in the remotest regions of the poles. Find out more about the series in the Editorial.
In the first interview, JEB author and editor Craig Franklin talks about the risks and challenges of working in remote areas with animals in their natural environment.