INSIDE JEB
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
- Reduced telomere length in embryos exposed to predator cues
Summary: Bird embryos detect the presence of predators while still in the egg; this environmental stressor affects early postnatal telomere length, linking prenatal conditions to future fitness.
- Temporary caging results in reduced levels of circulating melatonin in migratory robins
Summary: Laboratory studies have shown that melatonin modulates migratory restlessness in passerine birds; however, nocturnal melatonin is lower in caged birds than in birds trapped while flying at night.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Visual system development of the spotted unicornfish, Naso brevirostris (Acanthuridae)
Summary: Retinal topography and opsin gene expression change during ontogeny of the spotted unicornfish, Naso brevirostris, with the largest changes occurring from the larval to the juvenile stage.
- Stepping behaviour contributes little to balance control against continuous mediolateral trunk perturbations
Summary: When exposed to continuous, sinusoidal mediolateral trunk perturbations, subjects choose to maintain a constant step width and reduce their body centre of mass excursions to maintain stability.
- Quantifying the swimming gaits of veined squid (Loligo forbesii) using bio-logging tags
Summary: Application of a novel, high-resolution biologging tag (ITAG) to veined squid in an experimental environment enables development of techniques for classifying and quantifying short-term behavioral and long-term organismal activity patterns.
- In vivo force–length and activation dynamics of two distal rat hindlimb muscles in relation to gait and grade
Summary: Similar to the patterns observed in larger animals, distal rat muscles favor economy and show limited fascicle strains across gaits and grades.
- Defects in mating behavior and tail morphology are the primary cause of sterility in Caenorhabditis elegans males at high temperature
Summary: Mating behaviors and tail morphology are affected by elevated temperature in male Caenorhabditis elegans. Changes in somatic tissues result in the behavioral consequences that underlie male sterility at elevated temperature.
- Prolonged survival out of water is linked to a slow pace of life in a self-fertilizing amphibious fish
Summary: Intrinsically low metabolic rates increase survival and fitness of an amphibious fish when access to water is limited; there is no apparent cost when water is abundant.
- Comparing context-dependent call sequences employing machine learning methods: an indication of syntactic structure of greater horseshoe bats
Summary: Syntactic structures were found different in call sequences in aggressive and distress contexts of greater horseshoe bats with three machine learning models.
- Quantifying koala locomotion strategies: implications for the evolution of arborealism in marsupials
Highlighted Article: Koalas possess a unique morphology for a marsupial; examination of their locomotion is used to determine the extent to which they have converged with other arboreal mammals such as primates.
- Honey bee caste lipidomics in relation to life-history stage and the long life of the queen
Summary: The extraordinary difference in lifespan between honey bee castes may be partially explained by oxidative damage as a result of the diet-induced increase in membrane polyunsaturated fatty acids in workers.
- An impressive capacity for cold tolerance plasticity protects against ionoregulatory collapse in the disease vector Aedes aegypti
Summary: Aedes aegypti, a dangerous vector of disease, is capable of cold acclimation at least partly through mitigation of a cold-induced loss of ion balance.
- Reeling in the prey: fishing behaviour in an orb web spider
Highlighted Article: A rare orb spider reels trapped prey in towards itself; its approach strategy shows that it can discriminate between heavy and light prey.
- Pectoral and pelvic girdle rotations during walking and swimming in a semi-aquatic turtle: testing functional role and constraint
Summary: During locomotion, the turtle pectoral girdle rotates more than the pelvis. While pelvic girdle rotations are larger on land, the pectoral girdle rotates similarly during swimming and walking.
- Diffusive structural colour in Hoplia argentea
Summary: Hoplia argentea beetles are diffusely green as a result of the combination of a multilayered photonic structure and a filamentous pigmented layer that acts as a diffuser.
- Disparate responses to salinity across species and organizational levels in anchialine shrimps
Summary: Five species of shrimps representing independent invasions of the anchialine ecosystem show wide variation in response to fluctuating salinity at the whole-animal, tissue and molecular level. Environmental adaptations to anchialine habitats may be divergent across both distantly and closely related taxa.
- Glucagon regulation of carbohydrate metabolism in rainbow trout: in vivo glucose fluxes and gene expression
Summary: Glucagon causes hyperglycaemia in rainbow trout by increasing hepatic glucose production via activation of gluconeogenesis, and by decreasing glucose disposal via inhibition of glycogen synthesis and glycolysis.
- The role of intestinal bacteria in the ammonia detoxification ability of teleost fish
Highlighted Article: Variable reliance on enzymatic pathways to ameliorate toxic levels of ammonia found within the intestinal lumen of fish during digestion is possibly due to the inconstant contribution of bacterial inhabitants.
- Fat content of striped mice decreases during the breeding season but not during the food-restricted dry season
Summary: Striped mice do not accumulate large fat stores before the dry season but mobilize existing stores at the onset of breeding. Variation in fat stores is not associated with disappearance risk.
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.