INSIDE JEB
REVIEW
- Directional hearing in insects: biophysical, physiological and ecological challenges
Summary: This Review describes the biophysical, physiological and behavioural solutions that allow small insects to determine the direction of a sound source in space, even under complex field conditions.
SHORT COMMUNICATION
- Flight activity and glycogen depletion on a low-carbohydrate diet
Summary: On a low-carbohydrate diet, flies experience a reduction in glycogen stores yet increase flight activity without changing rates of glycogen depletion.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Wind and obstacle motion affect honeybee flight strategies in cluttered environments
Summary: To approach moving obstacles, honeybees reduce speeds in still air but increase speeds in wind. To transit obstacles, bees reduce speeds in still air but alter flight paths in wind.
- Stepping pattern changes in the caterpillar Manduca sexta: the effects of orientation and substrate
Highlighted Article: The stepping patterns of Manduca sexta (caterpillars) vary with substrate and orientation, indicating that they can detect and respond to the mechanical properties of the environment with which they interact.
- Swim bladder enhances lagenar sensitivity to sound pressure and higher frequencies in female plainfin midshipman (Porichthys notatus)
Summary: The presence of a swim bladder enhances lagenar sensitivity to sound pressure and higher frequencies in female plainfin midshipman, which may be adaptive for the detection of behaviorally relevant social signals.
- Plasticity, repeatability and phenotypic correlations of aerobic metabolic traits in a small estuarine fish
Summary: Aerobic metabolism of an ecologically dominant estuarine fish is influenced by acclimation to environmental changes without altering trait repeatability. Furthermore, specific metabolic traits are phenotypically correlated.
- The biomechanics of knuckle-walking: 3-D kinematics of the chimpanzee and macaque wrist, hand and fingers
Highlighted Article: The first 3-D kinematics of the knuckle-walking chimpanzee hand illustrates unique characteristics as well as shared commonalities with digitigrade and palmigrade walking of macaques.
- Reduced lactate dehydrogenase activity in the heart and suppressed sex hormone levels are associated with female-biased mortality during thermal stress in Pacific salmon
Summary: Reduced lactate dehydrogenase activity in the heart and lower circulating sex hormones are linked to female-biased mortality during thermal stress in Pacific salmon.
- Behavioral and physiological evidence that increasing group size ameliorates the impacts of social disturbance
Summary: Social stability is vital for group productivity and long-term persistence. Here, both behavioral and physiological evidence conveys that larger groups are less susceptible to social disturbance.
- Morphology and performance of the ‘trap-jaw’ cheliceral strikes in spiders (Araneae, Mecysmaucheniidae)
Highlighted Article: The ultra-fast cheliceral strike of mecysmaucheniid spiders, the fastest documented movement among arachnids, is achieved via shifts in the shape of external structures and shifts in muscle anatomy towards increased specialization.
- Keep calm and hang on: EMG activation in the forelimb musculature of three-toed sloths (Bradypus variegatus)
Summary: Three-toed sloths minimize activation of their limb muscles while hanging and appear to offset the cost of force production when walking and climbing by preferentially recruiting large, slow-contracting muscle fibers.
- Two chiral types of randomly rotated ommatidia are distributed across the retina of the flathead oak borer Coraebus undatus (Coleoptera: Buprestidae)
Highlighted Article: Jewel beetles have an irregular retinal mosaic of randomly rotated and mirror-symmetric ommatidia, housing at least four spectral classes of photoreceptors.
- Air-entrapping capacity in the hair coverage of Malacosoma castrensis (Lasiocampidae: Lepidoptera) caterpillar: a case study
Summary: An incompressible physical gas gill, stabilized by relatively long and thick setae, is present in terrestrial caterpillars of Malacosoma castrensis, which can survive many hours underwater.
- Path integration error and adaptable search behaviors in a mantis shrimp
Summary: Mantis shrimp use path integration, an error-prone navigational strategy, when traveling home. When path integration fails, mantis shrimp employ a stereotyped yet flexible search pattern to locate their homes.
- Acute and chronic stress prevents responses to pain in zebrafish: evidence for stress-induced analgesia
Summary: Exposure of zebrafish to acute or chronic stress prior to fin clipping prevents behavioural changes normally seen after fin clip; naloxone treatment prevented this effect, demonstrating stress-induced analgesia.
- Thermal tolerance and hypoxia tolerance are associated in blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) neonates
Summary: Thermal tolerance is associated with hypoxia tolerance in blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) neonates. Both tolerance traits change with thermal acclimation, but aerobic scope and growth rates do not.
- Evolutionarily conserved transcription factors drive the oxidative stress response in Drosophila
Summary: A comparative genomics approach reveals conserved transcription factor consensus sites in the p38 MAPK gene family that regulate stress responses in Drosophila.
- The effects of temperature on the defensive strikes of rattlesnakes
Highlighted Article: Viper strike kinematics across a range of ecologically relevant temperatures show that defensive strikes of vipers are affected by temperature, but less than would be expected if the movement was purely muscle-driven.
- Exploratory behaviour, memory and neurogenesis in the social Damaraland mole-rat (Fukomys damarensis)
Summary: Damaraland mole-rat behaviour is modulated by dispersal and dispersal strategy. Non-dispersing mole-rats explore more cautiously; female dispersers approach the learning task differently from males, having a different dispersal strategy.
- Maximum aerodynamic force production by the wandering glider dragonfly (Pantala flavescens, Libellulidae)
Summary: Dragonflies with submaximal loads exhibit unprecedentedly high aerodynamic forces after being dropped in mid-air, descending and then recovering in flight; this behavior represents a new context for evaluating limits to force production by flying animals.
- Route-following ants respond to alterations of the view sequence
Summary: There is a sequence component to route memories in ants, as ants show signs of navigational uncertainty when the familiar sequence of views is suddenly altered.