INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
EDITORIAL
COMMENTARY
- A classic model animal in the 21st century: recent lessons from the leech nervous system
Summary: Robust behaviors and a simple and accessible nervous system made the leech a favorite among systems neuroscientists. Increasing use of modern techniques helps explain its continued appeal.
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
- Robust jumping performance and elastic energy recovery from compliant perches in tree frogs
Highlighted Article: Tree frogs can recover elastic energy lost to springy perches when jumping, allowing robust jumping performance across highly variable perch compliances.
- The big squeeze: scaling of constriction pressure in two of the world's largest snakes, Python reticulatus and Python molurus bivittatus
Summary: Constriction performance increases with size in large pythons, and involves pressures that are high enough to stop the prey's circulation and possibly disrupt neural function in the brain.
- Systems genomics analysis centered on epigenetic inheritance supports development of a unified theory of biology
Summary: A novel analysis of genomic, transcriptomic and epigenomic data supports integration of epigenetic inheritance with gene networks, molecular biology, physiology, and evolution, towards developing a unified theory of biology.
- King penguins can detect two odours associated with conspecifics
Summary: King penguins are known to use acoustic cues to recognize individuals but these birds are also sensitive to the scent of their feathers and feces.
- Local capillary supply in muscle is not determined by local oxidative capacity
Summary: Maximal oxygen demand from surrounding fibres supported by individual capillaries is highly variable in human muscle, suggesting that a fundamental review of determinants of muscle capillarisation is needed.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Chemical cues from fish heighten visual sensitivity in larval crabs through changes in photoreceptor structure and function
Highlighted Article: Larval crabs are more responsive to light following exposure to chemical cues from fish and this increase in photobehavior coincides with physiological and structural changes in the eye.
- Camouflage during movement in the European cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis)
Summary: When crossing from one uniform background to another, a gradual change of camouflage in cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) is advantageous, preferably over the new background.
- Polarization sensitivity as a visual contrast enhancer in the Emperor dragonfly larva, Anax imperator
Summary: Polarization sensitivity in the Emperor dragonfly larva, Anax imperator, reduces the contrast-degrading effect of scattered light under naturalistic horizontally polarized underwater lighting conditions.
- Effects of stride frequency and foot position at landing on braking force, hip torque, impact peak force and the metabolic cost of running in humans
Summary: Variation in stride frequency and foot position at landing affects the cost of running and the generation of impact peaks in human runners.
- Relationships among plumage coloration, blood selenium concentrations and immune responses of adult and nestling tree swallows
Summary: Selenium, an important micronutrient whose influence on the physiology of wild birds is poorly understood, and structural plumage coloration are related to innate immunity in adult and nestling tree swallows.
- Decreasing methane yield with increasing food intake keeps daily methane emissions constant in two foregut fermenting marsupials, the western grey kangaroo and red kangaroo
Highlighted Article: Methane emissions from kangaroos are comparable with those of other non-ruminant foregut fermenting herbivores, and may be a function of digesta processing rather than harbouring a unique low-methane producing microbial community.
- Fin ray sensation participates in the generation of normal fin movement in the hovering behavior of the bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus)
Summary: Sensory feedback from the fin rays and membrane of bluegill sunfish is important for generating normal hover movements but is not necessary for generating rhythmic fin movement.
- Using an abstract geometry in virtual reality to explore choice behaviour: visual flicker preferences in honeybees
Summary: Visual flicker preferences in honeybees is shown by allowing bees to walk their way through multiple decision points in a recursive closed-loop environment.
- Heat transfer in fish: are short excursions between habitats a thermoregulatory behaviour to exploit resources in an unfavourable thermal environment?
Summary: Quantification of fish body temperature in step change experiments enables theoretical predictions of maximum excursion duration between feeding (warm) and resting (cold) areas relative to the temperature tolerance of the species.
- The impact of high-salt exposure on cardiovascular development in the early chick embryo
Summary: Excess generation of ROS could play an important role in high-salt-induced defects in heart and angiogenesis in the chick.
- Gas exchange and dive characteristics of the free-swimming backswimmer Anisops deanei
Highlighted Article: Exotic gas experiments and mathematical modelling show that backswimmers extend dive duration by extracting 20% of their O2 directly from the water.
- A crayfish molar tooth protein with putative mineralized exoskeletal chitinous matrix properties
Summary: A novel protein from crayfish molar tooth is involved in calcium phosphate and carbonate precipitation and may prove important for bone and dental regeneration.
- Differences in the escape response of a grapsid crab in the field and in the laboratory
Summary: Grapsid crabs show flexibility of predator avoidance behaviours; differences in these escape behaviours occur under natural versus laboratory conditions.
- Pitch perfect: how fruit flies control their body pitch angle
Summary: High-speed videography of free-flying Drosophila reveals their active control mechanism for counter-pitching perturbations, which is rapid, robust and consistent with linear control theory.
- Aeroelastic flutter of feathers, flight and the evolution of non-vocal communication in birds
Summary: Feathers flutter to produce sound in a wide array of birds; flutter, percussion and wing whirring account for most of the evolutionary diversity of non-vocal communication in birds.
This issue
Other journals from The Company of Biologists
Announcing JEB's 2019 Outstanding Paper Prize
Congratulations to all of the authors whose papers were shortlisted for the 2019 JEB Outstanding Paper Prize. This year we had a great selection of papers and the final winners were Kephra Beckett and Anne Roberts, from the University of British Columbia, Canada, for their work on spittlebug breathing in xylem sap foam.
How to turn an organism into a model organism in 10 ‘easy’ steps
Many of the major biological discoveries of the 20th century were made using ‘the big 6’ model organisms. Based on their own experience with the Aedes aegypti mosquito, Benjamin Matthews and Leslie Vosshall provide a checklist showing how other new species can be added to this roster. All articles in the new Special Issue are now online and free to read.
Travelling Fellowship deadline: 6 March
The next Travelling Fellowship deadline is approaching! Apply by 6 March to take your research abroad. In 2014, Sridhar Ravi did exactly that and earlier this year published a paper about the mechanics of hummingbird flight using data gathered on the trip. Read his full story to find out more.
JEB appoints new Editor-in-Chief
We are delighted to announce that Craig Franklin (University of Queensland, Australia) has been appointed as the next EiC of JEB, starting on 1 August. With research interests in animal ecophysiology and conservation physiology, Craig is already familiar with the journal, having been a Monitoring Editor since 2011. We are looking forward to welcoming him in his new role.
The lowdown on Read & Publish
The Company of Biologists is embracing Open Access with a series of pilot Transitional Agreements, known as Read & Publish deals. But, what exactly are they and what are the benefits? Read the full story to find out more.