INSIDE JEB
METHODS & TECHNIQUES
- Development of a vortex generator to perturb fish locomotion
Summary: Development and calibration of a vortex generator to investigate the stiffness of fish fins during natural swimming.
- A novel technique for the precise measurement of CO2 production rate in small aquatic organisms as validated on aeshnid dragonfly nymphs
Summary: In vitro and in vivo validation of a simple respirometry system for simultaneous measurements of oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production rate, in small aquatic organisms (2 mg wet mass).
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Warm preconditioning protects against acute heat-induced respiratory dysfunction and delays bleaching in a symbiotic sea anemone
Summary: Changes in mitochondrial function by thermal preconditioning provide some protection to a symbiotic sea anemone against the effects of stressful heating.
- Interspecies comparison of the mechanical properties and biochemical composition of byssal threads
Summary: An interspecies comparison of byssus produced by nine species in different natural environments shows that mechanical properties depends on the interrelationship between morphometric characteristics and their biochemical contents.
- The energetic cost of filtration by demosponges and their behavioural response to ambient currents
Summary: Filter feeding in demosponges is energetically costly, with some species showing active behavioural control over the amount of water they filter under different ambient current speeds.
- The Achilles tendon is mechanosensitive in older adults: adaptations following 14 weeks versus 1.5 years of cyclic strain exercise
Highlighted Article: The stiffness of the aging Achilles tendon increases after 14 weeks of mechanical loading exercise by changing its material and dimensional properties, whereas continuing exercise causes no further adaptive changes.
- Archerfish use their shooting technique to produce adaptive underwater jets
Summary: Archerfish use the same mouth opening maneuver to produce and to adapt aerial and underwater jets.
- Hidden female physiological resistance to male accessory gland substances in a simultaneous hermaphrodite
Summary: The effect of accessory gland proteins transferred on the love-dart of land snails can remain hidden within a species as a result of physiological female resistance to male manipulation.
- The Lombard effect emerges early in young bats: implications for the development of audio-vocal integration
Summary: Two-week-old infant bats produce louder calls in noisy environments.
- Effects of activity, genetic selection and their interaction on muscle metabolic capacities and organ masses in mice
Summary: Organ morphology and biochemistry were altered in response to selective breeding for voluntary wheel running, chronic exercise and interactions as a result of ‘more pain, more gain’ or the evolution of greater phenotypic plasticity.
- Geographic divergence and colour change in response to visual backgrounds and illumination intensity in bearded dragons
Highlighted Article: Background colour and illumination intensity both elicit colour change in bearded dragon lizards, which makes them more similar to local backgrounds.
- Appropriate rearing density in domesticated zebrafish to avoid masculinization: links with the stress response
Summary: High stocking density reduces survival and growth and masculinizes domesticated zebrafish, and this is probably mediated by cortisol through the stress response.
- Lombard effect onset times reveal the speed of vocal plasticity in a songbird
Summary: Canaries are able to rapidly increase the amplitude of their songs to mitigate signal masking by noise, demonstrating high vocal plasticity in this species.
- Metabolic plasticity for subcutaneous fat accumulation in a long-distance migratory bird traced by 2H2O
Summary: A novel and non-lethal tracer method using deuterated water revealed alteration in lipid metabolism of migrant black-tailed godwits subjected to different diets.
- Respiratory mechanics of eleven avian species resident at high and low altitude
Highlighted Article: Work and cost of breathing in 11 species of waterfowl are reported to be lower than previously predicted in birds, but without effect of altitudinal habitat despite mechanical differences in highland species.
- Influence of fatiguing noise on auditory evoked responses to stimuli of various levels in a beluga whale, Delphinapterus leucas
Summary: Investigation of the effects of a fatiguing sound on the hearing of a beluga whale within a wide range of levels of test signals shows that fatiguing noise exposure reduces responses to supra-threshold signals.
- Conspecific aggregations mitigate the effects of ocean acidification on calcification of the coral Pocillopora verrucosa
Summary: Densely aggregated coral colonies can create small-scale refugia from the negative effects of ocean acidification.
- Economic thermoregulatory response explains mismatch between thermal physiology and behaviour in newts
Summary: Digesting newts prefer body temperatures that are optimal for aerobic scope not in absolute terms but relative to the minimum oxygen consumption.
- Functional morphology of tegmina-based stridulation in the relict species Cyphoderris monstrosa (Orthoptera: Ensifera: Prophalangopsidae)
Summary: Using laser Doppler vibrometry in a relict species, evolutionary origins of sound generator features are investigated by comparison of functional morphology between distinct lineages of acoustically calling orthopterans.
- Effects of external strain on the regulation of microtubule sliding induced by outer arm dynein of sea urchin sperm flagella
Summary: Microtubule sliding produced by dynein molecules on glass can be modified flexibly under application of mechanical signals. This self-regulatory activity of dynein would be the basis of flagellar oscillation.
- Swimming and diving energetics in dolphins: a stroke-by-stroke analysis for predicting the cost of flight responses in wild odontocetes
Highlighted Article: Elevated locomotor costs during high-speed stroking by swimming dolphins demonstrate the energetic challenge of escape responses due to anthropogenic noise in the ocean.
- Selective attention in peacocks during assessment of rival males
Summary: Peacocks selectively direct their attention toward the lower display regions of the train during rival assessment in a pattern similar to how peahens direct their attention toward potential mating partners.
- The king of snakes: performance and morphology of intraguild predators (Lampropeltis) and their prey (Pantherophis)
Summary: Higher constriction pressures allow kingsnakes to successfully prey on ratsnakes of similar size despite comparable muscle cross-sectional area and escape performance.
This issue
Other journals from The Company of Biologists
Editors’ choice – Zombie ant death grip due to hypercontracted mandibular muscles
Image credit: Melissa Ishler; specimen collected by Kimberly Fleming
David Hughes and his team show how a parasitic fungus invades the mandibular muscles of carpenter ants and forces the zombie insects to clamp their mandibles tightly to a leaf vein or twig before they die.
Commentary - The good, the bad and the slimy: experimental studies of hagfish digestive and nutritional physiology
The hagfishes provide valuable insight into the physiology of feeding, digestion and nutrient absorption by virtue of unusual and unique features of their biology. In their Commentary, Chris Glover and Alyssa Weinrauch discuss the key aspects of hagfish feeding and digestive processes, and highlight the pitfalls of this group as experimental organisms.
Image credit: Fredrik Christiansen.
Peter Madsen and his colleagues find that low-output infrequent calls in baleen whale mother–calf pairs may mediate contact between mother and calf, while decreasing the risk of detection by potential predators. Read their full research article here.
The Peter Baker Fellowship is for post-doctoral scientists interested in marine biology research, especially physiological research. It will provide living and travel expenses (up to £3,000) to spend approximately two months working at the Laboratory of the Marine Biological Association, Plymouth, at any time of the year. Bench fees will be waived and a small sum may be available to assist with research expenses. This fund is held in trust by the Physiological Society, The Company of Biologists and the Marine Biological Association. Application deadline: 31 January 2020.
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!
The Company of Biologists provides 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 2 September 2019.
preLights - Oxygen supply capacity in animals evolves to meet maximum demand at the current oxygen partial pressure regardless of size or temperature
Charlotte Nelson highlights a preprint from Brad Seibel and Curtis Deutsch, who found that, regardless of body mass or temperature, the capacity to supply oxygen is tightly matched to the maximum evolved demand at the highest reliably available oxygen pressure experienced by the species.