INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
COMMENTARY
- The engineering of the giant dragonflies of the Permian: revised body mass, power, air supply, thermoregulation and the role of air density
Summary: The giant dragonflies of the Permian would have rapidly overheated during flight. It is proposed that thermal equilibrium could have been maintained through aspects of physiology, behaviour and higher air density.
REVIEW
- Invertebrate serotonin receptors: a molecular perspective on classification and pharmacology
Summary: Many 5-HT receptors have been characterized at the molecular level in diverse invertebrate species. This review considers how to classify and name these heterologously expressed receptors and compares their pharmacological properties.
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
- Blood pressure in the Greenland shark as estimated from ventral aortic elasticity
Summary: Greenland shark arterial blood pressure is predicted to be very low (2.3–2.8kPa), based on the elasticity of its ventral aorta, supporting the idea that this species has a low aerobic metabolism.
- Individual differences in heart rate reveal a broad range of autonomic phenotypes in a free-living seabird population
Summary: Streaked shearwaters show consistent individual differences in autonomic activity that persist even across years and are driven by individual differences in parasympathetic ‘rest-and-digest’ activity, not sympathetic ‘fight-or-flight’ activity.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Foot-propelled swimming kinematics and turning strategies in common loons
Summary: As expert foot-based swimmers, loons paddle by combining ankle flexion and knee rotation. Loons display head-bobbing, likely enhancing vision, and induce turns using their wings, tail, body and feet.
- Corticosterone implants produce stress-hyporesponsive birds
Summary: Corticosterone implants decrease the adrenocortical response to stress in birds and baseline corticosterone levels in white storks.
- Ocean acidification does not limit squid metabolism via blood oxygen supply
Summary: Based on experimental and theoretical evidence, it seems unlikely that ocean acidification will impair blood oxygen supply in active squid.
- Accumulation and excretion of manganese ion in the kidney of Mytilus galloprovincialis
Summary: Mytilus galloprovincialis is able to concentrate 15 times more manganese ion in the kidney compared with concentrations in ambient seawater, and has been shown to excrete urine voluntarily.
- Angling-induced injuries have a negative impact on suction feeding performance and hydrodynamics in marine shiner perch, Cymatogaster aggregata
Summary: Injuries to the mouth caused by fishing hooks reduce suction feeding performance in marine surfperch by altering the flow of water into the mouth during suction.
- Multiple optic gland signaling pathways implicated in octopus maternal behaviors and death
Editors' Choice: Octopus optic glands employ a multiplex progression of signaling molecules to regulate maternal behaviors.
- Wing inertia as a cause of aerodynamically uneconomical flight with high angles of attack in hovering insects
Summary: Examination of the impact of wing inertia on the power requirement and flapping angle of attack, based on 3D free-hovering flight wing kinematics of a beetle Allomyrina dichotoma, using a theoretical blade element model.
- Do squid breathe through their skin?
Summary: Contrary to a 30-year-old well-regarded hypothesis, squid do not obtain oxygen across their skin to supply underlying tissues.
- Nosemosis control in European honey bees, Apis mellifera, by silencing the gene encoding Nosema ceranae polar tube protein 3
Summary: Use of RNAi-based therapeutics for nosemosis disease in honey bees.
- Channeling vorticity: modeling the filter-feeding mechanism in silver carp using μCT and 3D PIV
Summary: The greatly modified filtering plates of silver carp produce strong, directed vortical flow during filter feeding, which is thought to potentially increase feeding efficiency.
- How the egg rolls: a morphological analysis of avian egg shape in the context of displacement dynamics
Summary: Demonstration of a relationship between the shape of calcareous eggshells and their physical displacement by rolling to illuminate the adaptive value of morphology in the context of nesting habitat.
- Heterogeneity of neuromasts in a fish without lateral line canals: the pufferfish (Takifugu obscurus) model
Summary: Three types of neuromast (tall, medium and short, belonging to two functional groups) have been identified on the lateral line system of pufferfish (Takifugu obscurus) and encode different aspects of the hydrodynamic stimulus.
- The low-down on sleeping down low: pigeons shift to lighter forms of sleep when sleeping near the ground
Highlighted Article: Birds decrease REM sleep in a similar manner to mammals when sleeping under conditions of higher perceived predation risk.
- Oxidative cost of interspecific hybridization: a case study of two Triturus species and their hybrids
Summary: Hybrid individuals of crested newts had higher values of anti-oxidant parameters and a less integrated anti-oxidant defence system in comparison with parental species, indicating a higher investment in maintaining oxidative balance.
- Aerodynamic characteristics along the wing span of a dragonfly Pantala flavescens
Summary: Interwing aerodynamic interactions vary across the span of the high aspect ratio wings of dragonflies. This spanwise variation in aerodynamics could be exploited in the design of micro-air vehicles.
- Evidence for spatial vision in Chiton tuberculatus, a chiton with eyespots
Summary: Certain chitons have hundreds to thousands of eyespots (∼35 µm) distributed across their shell plates; these eyespots are associated with spatial vision.
- Anti-diuretic activity of a CAPA neuropeptide can compromise Drosophila chill tolerance
Summary: Many insects lose ion balance in the cold. CAPA neuropeptide can slow ion transport and reduce the cold tolerance of a fly.
- How does the environment affect fighting? The interaction between extrinsic fighting ability and resource value during contests
Highlighted Article: Environmental variation can affect an individual's willingness and capacity to engage in fights over indivisible resources.
- Thermal physiological traits and plasticity of metabolism are sensitive to biogeographic breaks in a rock-pool marine shrimp
Summary: Thermal performance, but not the metabolic rate, of a widely distributed species varies linearly with latitude, whereas thermal limits and plasticity of metabolism are affected by biogeographic breaks.
This issue
Other journals from The Company of Biologists
Meet the Editors at SICB Virtual 2021
Reserve your place to join some of the journal editors, including Editor-in-Chief Craig Franklin, at our Meet the Editor session on 17 February at 2pm (EST). Don’t forget to view our SICB Subject Collection, featuring relevant JEB papers relating to some of the symposia sessions.
2020 at The Company of Biologists
Despite 2020's challenges, we were able to bring a number of long-term projects and new ventures to fruition. As we enter a new year, join us as we reflect on the triumphs of the last 12 months.
Critical temperature window sends migratory black-headed buntings on their travels
The spring rise in temperature at black-headed bunting overwintering sites is essential for triggering the physical changes that they undergo before embarking on their spring migration – read more.
Developmental and reproductive physiology of small mammals at high altitude
Cayleih Robertson and Kathryn Wilsterman focus on high-altitude populations of the North American deer mouse in their review of the challenges and evolutionary innovations of pregnant and nursing small mammals at high altitude.
Read & Publish participation extends worldwide
“Being able to publish Open Access articles free of charge means that my article gets maximum exposure and has maximum impact, and that all my peers can read it regardless of the agreements that their universities have with publishers.”
Professor Roi Holzman (Tel Aviv University) shares his experience of publishing Open Access as part of our growing Read & Publish initiative. We now have over 60 institutions in 12 countries taking part – find out more and view our full list of participating institutions.