INSIDE JEB
REVIEW
- Feeling the heat: source–sink mismatch as a mechanism underlying the failure of thermal tolerance
Summary: A modified hypothesis about high temperature-induced failure of electrically excitable tissues is discussed; briefly, initiation and conduction of action potentials is impaired by temperature-dependent mismatch between active and passive properties of the cell membrane.
SHORT COMMUNICATION
- Nest predation and adult mortality relationships with post-natal metabolic rates and growth among songbird species
Summary: Does predation increase post-natal metabolism and growth with consequences for adult mortality, thus creating an evolutionary conflict among species? The fact that these sources of mortality show opposite correlations with growth and metabolism may explain how the conflict is avoided.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- The impact of persistent colonization by Vibrio fischeri on the metabolome of the host squid Euprymna scolopes
Summary: Study of the squid–vibrio model association reveals that the symbiotic state, the day–night cycle, and the sex of the host together impact the hemolymph metabolome of the host animal.
- Fluctuating environments during early development can limit adult phenotypic flexibility: insights from an amphibious fish
Summary: Exposure to water–air fluctuating environments during early fish development alters constitutive adult phenotypes and diminishes the scope for reversible acclimation.
- Tolerance of aquifer stoneflies to repeated hypoxia exposure and oxygen dynamics in an alluvial aquifer
Highlighted Article: Aquifer stoneflies maintain metabolic rates in declining oxygen conditions and tolerate repeated exposure to hypoxia. This may allow them to forage in deeply hypoxic zones in alluvial aquifers.
- Rewarding compounds identified from the medicinal plant Rhodiola rosea
Summary: Plant medicine can be useful, but also bears risks. Here, three substances with strikingly strong rewarding effects are identified from the medicinal plant Rhodiola rosea.
- How zebrafish turn: analysis of pressure force dynamics and mechanical work
Summary: Modified particle image velocimetry (PIV) together with pressure computations reveal the turning mechanics in zebrafish.
- The energetic costs of living in the surf and impacts on zonation of shells occupied by hermit crabs
Highlighted Article: The first experimental measurement of the energetic costs of bidirectional water flow suggests that those costs may explain differential distribution of shell species occupied by hermit crabs between wave-exposed and -protected sites.
- Thermal acclimation offsets the negative effects of nitrate on aerobic scope and performance
Summary: Nitrate exposure increases the susceptibility of fish to acute changes in temperature by lowering aerobic scope and performance, but thermal phenotypic plasticity can override these potentially detrimental effects.
- Photoperiodic induction without light-mediated circadian entrainment in a High Arctic resident bird
Summary: Svalbard ptarmigan show photoperiodic responses when transferred from constant darkness to constant light without circadian entrainment.
- Parasite infection directly impacts escape response and stress levels in fish
Summary: Micropredation by gnathiids causes fast-start escape performance and swimming behaviour to significantly decrease and cortisol levels to double in Pomacentrus amboinensis.
- Electrocommunication in pulse Gymnotiformes: the role of electric organ discharge (EOD) time course in species identification
Summary: Individuals of a syntopic pair of electric fish recognize the electric field emitted by conspecifics by evaluating the whole time course of received signals, rather than power spectral density alone.
- Parental transgenerational epigenetic inheritance related to dietary crude oil exposure in Danio rerio
Summary: Both maternal and paternal exposure experience to environmental stressors are essential for survivability of offspring facing similar environmental challenges.
- Host plant defense produces species-specific alterations to flight muscle protein structure and flight-related fitness traits of two armyworms
Summary: The effects of host plant variation extend beyond the larval stage to impact important adult insect fitness traits such as flight muscle function and muscle protein structure, and these effects can vary across species.
- The control of nocifensive movements in the caterpillar Manduca sexta
Summary: Rapid strike movements in Manduca sexta are controlled by differences in the activation of muscles on each side of the body and involve both co-activation and anterior–posterior phase delays.
- Bite force and its relationship to jaw shape in domestic dogs
Summary: Variation in bite force in dogs is driven by their extreme morphological variation. The covariation with skull shape suggests strong functional relationships within the masticatory system despite strong artificial selection.
- Aquatic and terrestrial takeoffs require different hindlimb kinematics and muscle function in mallard ducks
Summary: Mallard ducks use environment-specific locomotor patterns (i.e. kinematics and lateral gastrocnemius muscle strain patterns) during takeoff from water versus land.
- Extra-gastric expression of the proton pump H+/K+-ATPase in the gills and kidney of the teleost Oreochromis niloticus
Summary: The gastric proton pump is present in the gills and kidney of freshwater tilapia and has a potential role in potassium balance.
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.
The Big Biology podcast
JEB author Christine Cooper talks to Big Biology about her research. In this fascinating JEB sponsored podcast she tells us how tough zebra finches adjust their physiology to cope with extreme climate events.
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.