One of the postural reflexes of crayfish, the uropod steering response, is elicited by specific sensory inputs while the animal is walking. It is not elicited, however, by the same inputs when the animal is at rest. To clarify the neuronal mechanisms underlying this facilitatory control of body posture in the active animals, we used intracellular recordings to analyse the synaptic activities of uropod motor system neurones in an unanaesthetized whole-animal preparation. Several uropod motoneurones were found to receive sustained depolarizing inputs during walking, whereas the walking leg motoneurones sampled always showed rhythmic activity. The membrane conductance of the uropod motoneurones increased during the sustained synaptic activity. Premotor nonspiking interneurones showed depolarizing or hyperpolarizing membrane potential changes during walking that were also accompanied by increases in membrane conductance. Some of these interneurones enhanced uropod motoneurone activity, whereas others suppressed it during walking. These results suggest that the background excitability of uropod motoneurones is kept at an intermediate level during walking by the antagonistic inputs from premotor nonspiking interneurones so that the uropod motor system can be responsive to both further excitatory and inhibitory inputs resulting from postural changes. <P>
In the field: an interview with Harald Wolf
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In our new Conversation, Harald Wolf talks about his fieldwork experiences working with desert ants in Tunisia to understand their navigation.
Propose a new Workshop
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Our Workshops bring together leading experts and early-career researchers from a range of scientific backgrounds. Applications are now open to propose Workshops for 2024, one of which will be held in a Global South country.
Julian Dow steps down and John Terblanche joins the JEB team
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After 15 years with the journal, Julian Dow from University of Glasgow, UK, is stepping down as a Monitoring Editor. We wish Julian all the best for the future and welcome John Terblanche, Stellenbosch University, South Africa, who is joining the team. Julian talks about his long association with The Company of Biologists and the journal and John tells us about his life and career in this News article.
The capture of crude oil droplets by filter feeders at high and low Reynolds numbers
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Researchers from the University of Montreal, Canada, reveal how tiny filter feeding barnacles and Daphnia entrap and consume minute droplets of crude oil, introducing the pollutant at the bottom of the food chain.
Patterns and processes in amphibious fish
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In their Review, Keegan Lutek, Cassandra Donatelli and Emily Standen discuss the biomechanics and neural control of terrestrial locomotion in amphibious fish. They explore how locomotor mode depends on body shape, physical constraints and phylogeny.
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