INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
REVIEW
- Understanding how animal groups achieve coordinated movement
Summary: This review highlights the general principles of how animal groups achieve coordinated movement. Differences in the interaction rules of animals within and between species are discussed.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Wolbachia increases the susceptibility of a parasitoid wasp to hyperparasitism
Highlighted Article: Under natural conditions, Wolbachia-infected individuals of the parasitoid wasp Hyposoter horticola experience greater hyperparasitism than uninfected individuals.
- Vertebral bending mechanics and xenarthrous morphology in the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus)
Summary: Xenarthrous articulations perform the dual role of stiffening the vertebral column and increasing mobility, resulting in passively stable vertebrae that are capable of substantial bending under appropriate load.
- Insulin effects on honeybee appetitive behaviour
Summary: Insulin improves chemosensory responsiveness of young honeybees, but not their abilities to discriminate odours. Thus, the insulin signalling pathway would be readily mature in young hive bees.
- Improved cardiac filling facilitates the postprandial elevation of stroke volume in Python regius
Summary: Increased cardiac filling, as a result of enhanced venous tone, is identified as the underlying cause for the doubled stroke volume after feeding in ball pythons.
- Evaluating the role of NRF-1 in the regulation of the goldfish COX4-1 gene in response to temperature
Summary: The promoter of a critical metabolic gene is used to investigate why fish increase expression of metabolic genes in response to a decrease in body temperature.
- Voltage-gated calcium channels of Paramecium cilia
Highlighted Article: Three voltage-gated calcium channel alpha 1 subunit proteins are the channels responsible for depolarization-induced backward swimming in Paramecium tetraurelia. Pawn proteins are crucial in the ciliary localization of these channels.
- The ocelli of Archaeognatha (Hexapoda): functional morphology, pigment migration and chemical nature of the reflective tapetum
Summary: The ocelli of the jumping bristletail Machilis hrabei have a reflective tapetum containing xanthine crystals. The screening pigment in the photoreceptor cells migrates behind the tapetum upon dark adaptation.
- Energy and lipid metabolism during direct and diapause development in a pierid butterfly
Summary: Diapause termination in Pieris napi requires chilling, energy is stored for post-diapause purposes and the diapause lipidome is distinct but lacks dynamics during diapause development.
- Do respiratory limitations affect metabolism of insect larvae before moulting? An empirical test at the individual level
Summary: Respiratory limitations for metabolism appear in the penultimate larval instar but not in the last instar in growing butterfly larvae, supporting oxygen-dependent moult induction in larva-to-larva moults.
- Gene copy silencing and DNA methylation in natural and artificially produced allopolyploid fish
Summary: Allelic silencing is not a ubiquitous mechanism to manage an abrupt ploidy and heterozygosity increase in fish, and long-term evolutionary processes have effects on allele expression patterns and on DNA methylation levels.
- Experimental tests of planar strain theory for predicting bone cross-sectional longitudinal and shear strains
Summary: Experimental validation supports the use of planar strain theory for predicting bone cross-section longitudinal strains but requires further investigation for its application to shear strains.
- Testosterone activates sexual dimorphism including male-typical carotenoid but not melanin plumage pigmentation in a female bird
Highlighted Article: Female red-backed fairy-wrens express male-typical traits in response to exogenous and endogenous testosterone, including carotenoid-pigmented plumage, darkened bill and an enlarged sperm storage organ, but are constrained in production of melanin-pigmented plumage.
- Flowing water affects fish fast-starts: escape performance of the Hawaiian stream goby, Sicyopterus stimpsoni
Summary: Fast-start escape trials conducted in flow tanks indicate that fish heading into flow frequently fail to respond when attacked frontally, potentially because mechanical stimuli are masked by flowing water.
- Determinants of preferred ground clearance during swing phase of human walking
Summary: The foot's ground clearance during each swing phase of walking may be explained by competing costs of lifting the foot versus scuffing it on the ground, modulated by movement variability.
- Acclimation potential of Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) from the rapidly warming Arctic Ocean
Summary: The Arctic fish species Boreogadus saida may be migrating northwards with ocean warming, but can clearly physiologically tolerate temperatures above those of its current habitat.
- Metabolic recovery from drowning by insect pupae
Highlighted Article: Despite their status as terrestrial insects, pupae of Manduca sexta survived 5 days underwater and showed diverse and unusual patterns of CO2 emission during recovery.
- Ontogeny of learning walks and the acquisition of landmark information in desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis
Summary: When leaving their nest for the first time, Cataglyphis fortis ants perform a sequence of learning walks during which they learn the surrounding landmark panorama with increasing accuracy.
- Aerodynamic consequences of wing morphing during emulated take-off and gliding in birds
Summary: Wing posture has a greater effect on aerodynamic performance during emulated flapping than during emulated gliding. Extended wing morphology (i.e. emarginate primaries) may be more important during take-off and landing than during gliding.
- Dietary flavonoids advance timing of moult but do not affect redox status of juvenile blackbirds (Turdus merula)
Summary: Dietary flavonoids, despite their potential antioxidant activity, do not affect redox status in blackbirds; however, flavonoids do promote the development of melanin-rich feathers.
- The diversity and evolution of locomotor muscle properties in anurans
Summary: Frog muscle contractile properties (semimembranosus and plantaris) vary widely across taxa and show correlations to locomotor performance, particularly jumping performance.