REVIEWS
- Genetic conflicts: the usual suspects and beyond
Summary: Diverse genetic conflicts shape a myriad of biological processes, from host–pathogen interactions to successful inheritance of chromosomes. Despite this diversity, common evolutionary and biochemical principles may dictate the course of the majority of these conflicts.
- The ecology and evolution of social behavior in microbes
Summary: To avoid misleading conclusions, the study of microbial social behavior must be grounded in ecology and account for eco-evolutionary feedback. Recent developments may facilitate this experimentally and inform theoretical frameworks.
- Machine vision methods for analyzing social interactions
Summary: We review recent developments in machine vision for automatic, quantitative analysis of social behavior that have changed the scale and resolution with which we can dissect interactions between animals.
- The neurogenetics of group behavior in Drosophila melanogaster
Summary: We highlight studies that exploited computational tools and the genetic accessibility and rich social life of Drosophila melanogaster to reveal molecular and neuronal determinants of social networks and collective behavior.
- Phylogeny, environment and sexual communication across the Drosophila genus
Summary: We explore the relationship between life history, phylogeny and social communication of the Drosophila genus.
- Caste development and evolution in ants: it's all about size
Summary: Morphological castes in ants vary as a function of size, which has far-reaching consequences for caste development and evolution.
- Evolution of the asexual queen succession system and its underlying mechanisms in termites
Summary: Termite queens conditionally use sexual and asexual reproduction, where queens produce neotenic queens by parthenogenesis but use sexual reproduction to produce other colony members.
- Individual versus collective cognition in social insects
Summary: This Review discusses how social insect colonies draw on both the cognition of their individual members and the interaction networks between these individuals to form collective cognition.
- When social behaviour is moulded in clay: on growth and form of social insect nests
Summary: Ants and termites collectively build large nests with complex architecture. Here, we review the organisation of these structures and the mechanisms involved in their construction.
- Modification of feeding circuits in the evolution of social behavior
Summary: Social behaviors are linked to foraging behavior on a behavioral and mechanistic level, and we propose that modifications of feeding circuits are crucial in the evolution of social behaviors.
- Cognitive skills and the evolution of social systems
Summary: Animals interacting successfully use cognitive skills such as recognizing individuals, their social rank and logic as described here in a cichlid fish, and the neural bases of these skills are identified.
- Intergenerational transmission of sociality: the role of parents in shaping social behavior in monogamous and non-monogamous species
Summary: In this paper, we review the ways in which parents shape social behavior in offspring, in both monogamous and non-monogamous mammals.
- How social learning adds up to a culture: from birdsong to human public opinion
Summary: We review recent converging studies, across birdsongs and human cultures, about how social learning adds up to a stable but rich culture.
This issue
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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.