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
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.