COMMENTARY
- Osmoregulation, bioenergetics and oxidative stress in coastal marine invertebrates: raising the questions for future research
Summary: From an energy-redox perspective, changes in environmental salinity induce a wide diversity of responses in marine invertebrates. Characterization of mitochondrial function may allow disentangling evolutionary adaptations to different marine environments
REVIEW
- Respiratory function and mechanics in pinnipeds and cetaceans
Summary: This Review focuses on the physiological traits that have shaped the mechanical respiratory physiology of cetaceans and pinnipeds in response to the constraints imposed by the aquatic environment.
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
- Pathogen-induced food evasion behavior in Drosophila larvae
Highlighted Article: Investigation of pathogen-dependent evasion behavior in Drosophila larvae identifies a role for hugin neuropeptide in the processing of bacterial detection in the CNS.
- Identification and characterization of the bombykal receptor in the hawkmoth Manduca sexta
Summary: The receptor complex MsexOr1+MsexOrco responds to the sex pheromone bombykal when expressed in heterologous systems (Xenopus oocytes, HEK293 cells, CHO cells).
- Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and dimethylated sulphur compounds in coral explants under acute thermal stress
Summary: We use coral explants to link intracellular ROS in vivo under thermal stress with dimethylated sulphur compounds (DMSP and DMSO), supporting the involvement of these compounds in oxidative stress regulation.
- Oxidative stress in a capital breeder (Vipera aspis) facing pregnancy and water constraints
Summary: Pregnancy in aspic vipers is associated with increased oxidative damage levels despite an up-regulation of antioxidant defences; dehydration triggers an up-regulation of antioxidant defences, so preventing a cumulative effect of reproduction and dehydration.
- Relative colour cues improve colour constancy in birds
Summary: Relative colour cues help chickens to recognize and discriminate colours when illumination colour is changed dramatically, thus improving their colour constancy performance.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Mutualistic damselfish induce higher photosynthetic rates in their host coral
Editor's Choice: The results of this experimental study show, for the first time, a positive contribution of the coral-dwelling damselfish Dascyllus marginatus on the photosynthesis of their host, the coral Stylophora pistillata.
- Potencies of effector genes in silencing odor-guided behavior in Drosophila melanogaster
Summary: Potencies of effector genes in silencing odor-guided behavior in Drosophila melanogaster depend on effector gene and behavioral paradigm.
- Speed-dependent modulation of wing muscle recruitment intensity and kinematics in two bat species
Summary: One bat species alters flight muscle recruitment intensity with flight speed whereas another maintains constant muscle recruitment intensity but alters 3D wing kinematics, representing alternative strategies for flight at different speeds.
- Octopamine and tyramine regulate the activity of reproductive visceral muscles in the adult female blood-feeding bug, Rhodnius prolixus
Summary: Octopamine and tyramine modulate oviduct and bursa muscle contractions, contributing to the regulation of reproduction in the Chagas disease vector Rhodnius prolixus.
- The cell specificity of gene expression in the response to heat stress in corals
Summary: Genes previously found to be correlated with the stress and bleaching responses are spatially localized in different coral cell types, suggesting that there may be two different, but interacting mechanisms important to the coral's response to changes in its environment.
- An early life hypoxia event has a long-term impact on protein digestion and growth in juvenile European sea bass
Summary: The growth reduction in juvenile sea bass as a consequence of an early life hypoxia event is due to a specific change in the efficiency of protein digestive functions.
- Formation and function of intracardiac valve cells in the Drosophila heart
Summary: The intracardiac valve cells in the Drosophila heart tube are essential to regulate haemolymph flow directionality, in concert with a highly orchestrated cardiac contraction cycle.
- Longitudinal quasi-static stability predicts changes in dog gait on rough terrain
Summary: Dogs co-ordinate their limbs on rough terrain in a manner consistent with optimization for quasi-static longitudinal stability.
- Validating accelerometry estimates of energy expenditure across behaviours using heart rate data in a free-living seabird
Summary: A calibration of the overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA) method for estimating behaviour-specific energy expenditure in terms of V̇O2 in free-ranging birds at high temporal resolution.
- Inverse dynamic modelling of jumping in the red-legged running frog, Kassina maculata
Summary: Experimental data and inverse dynamic modelling demonstrate how forward thrust and elevation are produced in the frog hind limb, allowing frogs to jump at a wide range of angles.
- Kinematic control of extreme jump angles in the red-legged running frog, Kassina maculata
Summary: Running frogs are adept and flexible jumpers, using exquisite 3D control of their leg joints to achieve an extreme range of take-off angles.
- Oxidative ecology of paternal care in wild smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieu
Summary: The complex role of oxidative stress as a potential physiological mediator of life-history trade-off decisions for paternal smallmouth bass.
- Motor and mechanical bases of the courtship call of the male treehopper Umbonia crassicornis
Summary: Male treehoppers make use of the natural resonance of their abdomens when they generate their courtship vibrational signals.
- Octopamine and tyramine modulate the thermoregulatory fanning response in honey bees (Apis mellifera)
Summary: Two biogenic amines, octopamine and tyramine, influence the thermoregulatory fanning behavior in honeybees, highlighting the importance of physiological mechanisms in the organization of social insect societies.
This issue
Other journals from The Company of Biologists
Editors’ choice – Vision is highly sensitive to oxygen availability in marine invertebrate larvae
Visual systems are highly metabolically demanding, making them sensitive to fluctuations in oxygen. For marine animals, vision is crucial to survival, but oxygen levels can vary greatly over time and depending on water depth. Lillian McCormick, Lisa Levin and Nicholas Oesch now assess the impact of reduced oxygen on the vision of marine invertebrate larvae.
“When I started at Carleton, I was interested in physics, but it turned out that I was inspired by my high school teacher and not by the subject itself.”
Heath MacMillan is an Assistant Professor at Carleton University, Canada, where he studies the physiological mechanisms limiting ectotherm performance. In this interview, Heath talks about what inspired him to become a scientist, his experience as an early career researcher, and his opinion on pre-prints in the comparative physiology field.
Obituary – Ewald R. Weibel (1929-2019)
Ewald R. Weibel passed away in February, aged 89. He continued to be fully engaged scientifically at the time of his death, preparing a draft introduction for his ultimate research paper just two weeks before his final hospitalization, write Hans Hoppeler and Stan Lindstedt. His articles and books cover three main areas: lung structure and function, stereology, and the design of the respiratory system. He will be remembered as an outstanding scientist.
The Peter Baker Fellowship is for post-doctoral scientists interested in marine biology research, especially physiological research. This fund is held in trust by the Physiological Society, The Company of Biologists and the Marine Biological Association. Application deadline: 31 January 2020.
If you’re going to the SEB annual meeting in Seville from 2 to 5 July, call by our stand to chat to JEB Reviews Editors Charlotte Rutledge and Stefan Galander and pick up free JEB goodies!
The Company of Biologists provide grants to fund scientific meetings, workshops and conferences in the fields covered by our journals. Typically, meetings with fewer than 100 people may be granted up to £2,000, increasing up to £6,000 for about 400 people. The next deadline to apply is 02 September 2019.
preLights – Active behaviour during early development shapes glucocorticoid reactivity
JEB Monitoring Editor and guest preLighter Katie Gilmour highlights a preprint from Luis Castillo-Ramírez, Soojin Ryu and Rodrigo De Marco, who establish developing zebrafish as a model system to study how early-life stress modulates the function of the stress axis and stress responses later in life.