INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
REVIEW
- The temperature dependence of electrical excitability in fish hearts
Summary: At the extremes of environmental temperature, electrical excitability of the heart and other excitable tissues may set limits to temperature tolerance of fishes and other ectotherms.
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
- Lubricating the swordfish head
Highlighted Article: A newly discovered organ in the swordfish head, consisting of an oil-producing gland connected to capillaries with oil-excreting pores in the skin, may reduce streamwise friction drag and increase swimming efficiency.
- Tide-related biological rhythm in the oxygen consumption rate of ghost shrimp (Neotrypaea uncinata)
Summary: Oxygen consumption rate of the ghost shrimp Neotrypaea uncinata fluctuates with a period similar to that of the local semidiurnal tidal cycle.
- Incubation temperature causes skewed sex ratios in a precocial bird
Summary: Egg incubation may present an opportunity for sex ratio manipulation in birds.
- Plasticity of immunity in response to eating
Summary: Aspects of immunity can increase nearly 50% during digestion of a meal in snakes; thus, immune up-regulation may contribute to the energetic cost of digestion (specific dynamic action, SDA).
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Eating increases oxidative damage in a reptile
Summary: Consuming and digesting a meal affects oxidative physiology to a surprising degree, and animals that consume large or meat-based meals may be particularly susceptible to increases in oxidative damage.
- Altitude matters: differences in cardiovascular and respiratory responses to hypoxia in bar-headed geese reared at high and low altitudes
Highlighted Article: When exposed to progressive hypoxia, bar-headed geese reared at altitude exhibit a reduced metabolism and modestly increased ventilatory response, and also initiated cardiac responses earlier than geese reared at low altitude.
- Impact of nest sanitation on the immune system of parents and nestlings in a passerine bird
Summary: Nest sanitation primes the adaptive immune response of adult birds, but not necessarily the immune response of their nestlings; adult constitutive immune response also decreases throughout nestling rearing.
- Embryonic common snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina) preferentially regulate intracellular tissue pH during acid–base challenges
Summary: Embryonic turtles preferentially regulate tissue pH in the absence of blood pH regulation during acid–base disturbances. This pattern of acid–base regulation has never been observed before in amniotes.
- Control of lung ventilation following overwintering conditions in bullfrogs, Lithobates catesbeianus
Summary: Following ventilatory inactivity during winter submergence, bullfrogs can match breathing to metabolism and increase ventilation during hypoxia, but have reduced responses to hypercarbia when acutely transitioned to a warm-terrestrial environment.
- Jumping mechanisms and performance in beetles. I. Flea beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Alticini)
Highlighted Article: Flea beetles use a resilin-based structure as an elastic energy store for the catapult jumping mechanism.
- Physiological responses to hypersalinity correspond to nursery ground usage in two inshore shark species (Mustelus antarcticus and Galeorhinus galeus)
Summary: In response to an environmentally relevant hypersaline event, juvenile school and gummy sharks both show signs of stress; however, the osmoregulatory and cellular effects are greater in gummy sharks.
- A role for acoustic distortion in novel rapid frequency modulation behaviour in free-flying male mosquitoes
Summary: Female mosquito flight tones elicit a novel, stereotypical, auditory behaviour from male mosquitoes, although the male hearing organ is actually tuned to the frequency difference between male and female flight tones.
- A biorobotic model of the suction-feeding system in largemouth bass: the roles of motor program speed and hyoid kinematics
Summary: Experiments using a biorobotic model of the suction feeding system of ray-finned fishes reveal that motor program speed and kinematic timing of key musculoskeletal components affect subambient pressure generation.
- The ability to survive intracellular freezing in nematodes is related to the pattern and distribution of ice formed
Summary: Nematodes that survive intracellular freezing have small, uniform ice spaces, whereas the ice spaces of poor survivors vary more, with large spaces that may cause cellular damage.
- The significance of respiration timing in the energetics estimates of free-ranging killer whales (Orcinus orca)
Highlighted Article: Longitudinal observations of respiration times and underwater activity level indicate that consideration of respiration timing, in addition to respiration rate, is critical for estimating metabolic rates of free-ranging cetaceans.
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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.