Cover image
Cover: Koalas possess a unique morphology for extant marsupials linked with their arboreal lifestyle in the eucalypt forests of eastern Australia, with elongated limbs, an opposable hallux and zygodactyllous hands (two opposable digits per hand), reminiscent of other canopy specialists such as primates. Gaschk et al. (jeb207506) explored whether this morphological convergence is also present in their gait characteristics. Koala strategies converged on primate locomotion in arboreal environments, but were marsupial-like for terrestrial locomotion, suggesting that the gait properties of primates and koalas convey an advantage during arboreal locomotion, likely linked to stability on narrow or unstable substrates. Photo credit: Kate Berry.
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Welcome to JEB’s new Editor Monica Daley
We are pleased to welcome Monica Daley to JEB’s Editorial team. Monica has had a long association with JEB before taking up her new role, overseeing peer review of neuromuscular physiology, terrestrial biomechanics and integrative physiology of locomotion.
In the field with Robyn Hetem
Continuing our fieldwork series, Robyn Hetem reflects on working with species ranging from aardvark to zebra, and the impact COVID-19 has had on fieldwork.
Read & Publish participation continues to grow
“It is particularly encouraging for early career researchers, as it allows them to display their research globally without the need to find costs to cover the open access option.”
Professor Fernando Montealegre-Z (University of Lincoln) shares his experience of publishing Open Access as part of our growing Read & Publish initiative. We now have over 150 institutions in 15 countries and four library consortia taking part – find out more and view our full list of participating institutions.
Nocturnal reef residents have deep-sea-like eyes
Fanny de Busserolles and colleagues from The University of Queensland have discovered that the eyes of nocturnal reef fish have multibank retinas, layers of photoreceptors, similar to the eyes of deep-sea fish that live in dim light conditions.
Mechanisms underlying gut microbiota–host interactions in insects
In their Review, Konstantin Schmidt and Philipp Engel summarise recent findings about the mechanisms involved in gut colonisation and the provisioning of beneficial effects in gut microbiota–insect symbiosis.