INSIDE JEB
REVIEWS
- Tuning orb spider glycoprotein glue performance to habitat humidity
Summary: Viscous capture thread extends an orb spider's phenotype as a highly integrated complex of large proteins and small molecules that function as a self-assembling, highly tuned, environmentally responsive, adhesive biomaterial.
- Hormonally mediated effects of artificial light at night on behavior and fitness: linking endocrine mechanisms with function
Summary: We review key findings on how artificial light at night affects major endocrine axes and suggest future studies that might ameliorate negative effects.
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
- Testing the parasite mass burden effect on alteration of host behaviour in the Schistocephalus–stickleback system
Summary: The mechanical effect of the presence of Schistocephalus solidus parasite on behaviour in its host, the threespine stickleback, is tested using phenotypic engineering.
- Intestinal α-glycosidase transcriptional responses during development and diet adjustment in altricial birds
Summary: Increased α-glycosidase transcription does not occur as house sparrow and zebra finch nestlings age from hatching to adulthood, but does occur when nestlings of the former species adjust to a higher-starch diet.
METHODS & TECHNIQUES
- A miniaturized threshold-triggered acceleration data-logger for recording burst movements of aquatic animals
Summary: Development of a high-frequency acceleration data-logger that can selectively measure animal burst movements, as verified in controlled and in situ conditions with two fish species.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Task-specific sensory coding strategies are matched to detection and discrimination performance
Summary: Two distinct neural coding schemes show how weakly electric fish sensory neurons change response patterns to adapt to context-specific perceptual needs.
- Renoguanylin stimulates apical CFTR translocation and decreases HCO3− secretion through PKA activity in the Gulf toadfish (Opsanus beta)
Summary: Renoguanylin stimulation radically alters the physiology of Gulf toadfish enterocytes via protein kinase A, by reversing ion-absorbing mechanisms, inhibiting HCO3− secretion and causing insertion of CFTR into the apical membrane.
- Sleep deprivation negatively impacts reproductive output in Drosophila melanogaster
Summary: Sleep loss decreases egg output and thus reproductive fitness in female fruit flies, suggesting an important driving force for the evolution of sleep in animals.
- Antibacterial activity of male and female sperm-storage organs in ants
Highlighted Article: Male and female sperm-storage organs display different antibacterial activity in ants. This activity varies over time in females after mating, allowing long-term storage of sperm cells free of bacteria.
- Differential immune gene expression in sperm storage organs of leaf-cutting ants
Highlighted Article: Leaf-cutting ants use specific rather than generalist immune defences in long-term sperm storage organs.
- Enzyme polymorphism, oxygen and injury: a lipidomic analysis of flight-induced oxidative damage in a succinate dehydrogenase d (Sdhd)-polymorphic insect
Summary: Fritillary butterflies flying continuously for 3 min suffer oxidative damage to flight muscle lipids; damage varies with Sdhd genotype, but the effect differs for continuous flight versus intermittent flight in nature.
- Avian thermoregulation in the heat: evaporative cooling capacity and thermal tolerance in two Australian parrots
Highlighted Article: Australian parrots from arid environments have a high capacity to utilize evaporative heat dissipation to defend body temperature in hot conditions. Thermal tolerance is similar to that seen in songbirds.
- Kinematics of swimming of the manta ray: three-dimensional analysis of open-water maneuverability
Highlighted Article: Underwater stereovideography detailing the three-dimensional maneuvering performance of the manta ray in its natural environment shows that its turning maneuvers fall within the range of those exhibited by swimmers with rigid bodies.
- Vibration-guided mate searching in treehoppers: directional accuracy and sampling strategies in a complex sensory environment
Highlighted Article: Movement decisions of an insect homing in on plant-borne vibrations are influenced by the complex whirling motion of plant stems.
- The influence of bat echolocation call duration and timing on auditory encoding of predator distance in noctuoid moths
Summary: Constraints on the activity of auditory receptor cells in moths limits the ability of moth ears to encode information about distance for bats that use short echolocation calls.
- Intrinsic curvature in wool fibres is determined by the relative length of orthocortical and paracortical cells
Highlighted Article: Curvature in mammalian hairs is underpinned by the relative difference in length between orthocortical and paracortical cells rather than their proportion or number along each side of the fibre.
- Distinct physiological, biochemical and morphometric adjustments in the malaria vectors Anopheles gambiae and A. coluzzii as means to survive dry season conditions in Burkina Faso
Summary: A diverse and complex pattern of physiological mechanisms occurs in the Anopheles gambiae s.l. mosquito species and at the population level to cope with the harsh dry season.
- Ammonia excretion and acid–base regulation in the American horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus
Summary: First insight into a marine chelicerate's ammonia and acid-base regulatory strategies as assessed via changes in mRNA expression levels and physiological responses to elevated ambient ammonia and CO2.
- Functional plasticity of the gut and the Malpighian tubules underlies cold acclimation and mitigates cold-induced hyperkalemia in Drosophila melanogaster
Summary: Previous exposure of insects to low temperatures can mitigate cold-induced ion imbalances and improve chill tolerance. Plasticity of ion and fluid transport across the Malpighian tubule and rectal epithelia probably drive this response.
- Avian thermoregulation in the heat: phylogenetic variation among avian orders in evaporative cooling capacity and heat tolerance
Summary: Avian evaporative cooling efficiency and heat tolerance display substantial taxonomic variation that are, unexpectedly, not systematically related to the use of panting versus gular flutter processes.
- Reduced thermal tolerance during salinity acclimation in brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) can be rescued by prior treatment with cortisol
Summary: Brook trout experience a transient reduction in thermal tolerance during salinity acclimation, and improved osmoregulation after cortisol treatment corresponds with improved thermal tolerance.
- Turnover of muscle lipids and response to exercise differ between neutral and polar fractions in a model songbird, the zebra finch
Summary: Estimates of lipid turnover in songbird flight muscle demonstrate the potential for substantial changes to membrane and intramuscular fuel store fatty acid composition on ecologically relevant time scales.
- Biogenesis of zinc storage granules in Drosophila melanogaster
Summary: Drosophila genes required for the biogenesis of lysosome-related organelles (eye pigment granules) also function in the formation of zinc storage granules in the insect's excretory organ, the Malpighian tubules.
- Hormetic benefits of prior anoxia exposure in buffering anoxia stress in a soil-pupating insect
Summary: Prior anoxia exposure benefits organismal performance, increases lipid levels and reduces the oxygen debt compared with a singular exposure to anoxia in the Caribbean fruit fly.
- Intricate but tight coupling of spiracular activity and abdominal ventilation during locust discontinuous gas exchange cycles
Editors' Choice: Direct monitoring of ventilation/spiracle muscle activity, simultaneously with respirometry, reveals two different ventilation motor patterns that could explain the mechanistic basis of discontinuous gas exchange cycles in locusts.
- Reverse genetics demonstrate the role of mucosal C-type lectins in food particle selection in the oyster Crassostrea virginica
Summary: Carbohydrate–protein interactions enable efficient food particle sorting in bivalves, establishing a new dimension for the role of evolutionarily conserved mannose/glucose-binding proteins in the metazoan.