INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
COMMENTARY
- Oxygen- and capacity-limited thermal tolerance: bridging ecology and physiology
Summary: In light of progressive impacts of climate warming on ecosystems, a physiological understanding of organismal thermal ranges, responses and tolerances is critical. The concept of oxygen- and capacity-limited thermal tolerance develops such an understanding by integrating findings from whole-animal to molecular levels.
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
- Resonance frequencies of honeybee (Apis mellifera) wings
Summary: Normal modes of honeybee wings do not match the wingbeat frequency or harmonics, suggesting that the wings act as stiff elements when flapped.
- Differences in molecular mechanisms of K+ clearance in the auditory sensory epithelium of birds and mammals
Summary: K+ is the major charge carrier in the vertebrate inner ear, yet marked differences exist between birds and mammals in gene expression associated with K+ clearance.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- How innate is locomotion in precocial animals? A study on the early development of spatio-temporal gait variables and gait symmetry in piglets
Highlighted Article: Coordinated movement patterns in piglets are not entirely innate; instead, rapid neuromotor maturation also takes place in these precocial animals.
- Kinematics of ram filter feeding and beat–glide swimming in the northern anchovy Engraulis mordax
Summary: The anchovy Engraulis mordax shows substantial modifications to swimming kinematics from routine behavior when ram filter feeding.
- Upper lethal temperatures in three cold-tolerant insects are higher in winter than in summer
Editors' Choice: Some insects have an increased heat tolerance in winter compared with summer, which is an undocumented and paradoxical phenomenon in insects.
- Intestinal digestive enzyme modulation in house sparrow nestlings occurs within 24 h of a change in diet composition
Summary: House sparrows quickly adjust to new diets with differing protein and carbohydrate content when they are less than a week old.
- Sex differences in the utilization of essential and non-essential amino acids in Lepidoptera
Summary: Young adult male moths oxidize greater amounts of larva-derived amino acids than females, and more nectar-derived amino acids after feeding. Under starvation conditions, adult females exhibit the opposite pattern.
- Lowering metabolic rate mitigates muscle atrophy in western fence lizards
Summary: Although many mechanisms can slow skeletal muscle atrophy in hibernating vertebrates, a lowered metabolic rate is sufficient to mitigate muscle atrophy in fence lizards.
- The effect of thermal acclimation on aerobic scope and critical swimming speed in Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar
Summary: A thorough assessment of metabolic rates and swimming capacity at five different acclimation temperatures, and the ecological relevance of aerobic scope models in Atlantic salmon.
- Orientation of native versus translocated juvenile lesser spotted eagles (Clanga pomarina) on the first autumn migration
Highlighted Article: In 2009, most juvenile eagles translocated from Latvia to Germany departed earlier than native juveniles and adults, and consequently failed to learn the species' traditional eastern detour around the Mediterranean.
- Insulin-like growth factor signaling regulates developmental trajectory associated with diapause in embryos of the annual killifish Austrofundulus limnaeus
Summary: Insulin-like growth factor signaling plays a critical role in regulating entrance into embryonic diapause and may determine many of the complex life history characteristics unique to annual killifishes.
- Labrid cleaner fishes show kinematic convergence as juveniles despite variation in morphology
Summary: In wrasses, jaw movements during biting are influenced by a feature on the premaxilla; labrichthyines show biting patterns distinct from those of other wrasses.
- Increasing the illumination slowly over several weeks protects against light damage in the eyes of the crustacean Mysis relicta
Summary: A previously unknown form of slow light adaptation, developing over time scales of weeks to months, is identified that significantly improves tolerance to bright-light exposures in the eyes of mysid crustaceans.
- Escape jumping by three age-classes of water striders from smooth, wavy and bubbling water surfaces
Summary: The locomotion performance of water striders is reduced with increasing water surface roughness, particularly for younger age classes.
- Echo-acoustic scanning with noseleaf and ears in phyllostomid bats
Highlighted Article: Echolocating bats move their noseleaf (for sound emission) and their ears for fast and directed echo-acoustic exploration of their surroundings.
- Individual quality via sensitivity to cysteine availability in a melanin-based honest signaling system
Summary: A physiological mechanism decreasing the sensitivity to dietary cysteine is intrinsic to low-quality male house sparrows and prevents them from developing large bibs indicative of high quality.
- Stable carbon isotopes in breath reveal fast metabolic incorporation rates and seasonally variable but rapid fat turnover in the common shrew (Sorex araneus)
Summary: Shrews fuel their metabolism rapidly from ingested food and have such a high body fat turnover that they would starve within 4.2 h in winter without food.
This issue
Other journals from The Company of Biologists
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.
Cross-referee commenting
We are pleased to announce that JEB has expanded its peer review process to include cross-referee commenting. Read our News item for further details.
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.
The Big Biology Podcast with Doug Fudge
Tune in to the latest JEB-sponsored episode of the Big Biology podcast. Art Woods and Marty Martin talk to Doug Fudge about all things slime as they discuss the hagfish and its slimy superpower.