Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) dive near the ice edge at Cape Washington, Antarctica. Three dimensional reconstructions of the respiratory system from computerized tomographic scans by Ponganis et al. (pp. 720–730) revealed that maximal air sac volumes were not large enough to prevent pulmonary barotrauma during the deepest dives of Adélie (Pygoscelis adeliae), king (A. patagonicus) and emperor penguins. It was concluded that volume reduction of airways and lung air spaces, via compression, constriction or blood engorgement, must occur to provide pulmonary baroprotection at depth. If penguins inhale to such maximum volumes, buoyancy estimates are still reasonable, and oxygen stores are greatly increased. Photo credit: Paul Ponganis.
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INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
REVIEW
Bat flight: aerodynamics, kinematics and flight morphology
Summary: Hedenström and Johansson review the way in which the bat's wing structure equips it for efficient and manoeuvrable flight.
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Erection pattern and section-wise wettability of honeybee glossal hairs in nectar feeding
Summary: Honeybees have an optimal hair-erection pattern to balance nectar intake and viscous drag.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Variation in early-life telomere dynamics in a long-lived bird: links to environmental conditions and survival
Summary: The environment strongly influences early-life telomere attrition, suggesting that telomere dynamics may underlie cohort effects often observed in natural populations and may mechanistically link early-life stress and later-life performance.
Ammonia excretion in Caenorhabditis elegans: mechanism and evidence of ammonia transport of the Rhesus protein CeRhr-1
Highlighted Article: Hypodermal ammonia excretion in the soil nematode C. elegans involves Na+/K+-ATPase, V-ATPase, carbonic anhydrase, the microtuble network and a functional Rh protein.
Vasotocin and isotocin regulate aquaporin 1 function in the sea bream
Summary: This study investigated the regulation of fish aquaporin function by the neurohormones vasotocin and isotocin.
Shiver me titin! Elucidating titin's role in shivering thermogenesis
Summary: Mice with a titin mutation have lower active muscle stiffness and lower shivering frequencies than predicted. Titin may provide the tuning of shivering frequency by affecting active muscle stiffness.
Coordination between catch connective tissue and muscles through nerves in the spine joint of the sea urchin Diadema setosum
Summary: Coordination between connective tissue and muscles occurs via nerves in the sea-urchin spinal joint.
Biomechanics and energetics of running on uneven terrain
Summary: Running on uneven terrain leads to decreased positive ankle work and increased metabolic energy expenditure.
Penguin lungs and air sacs: implications for baroprotection, oxygen stores and buoyancy
Highlighted Article: Penguin lung and air sac volumes are measured by 3D reconstruction from CT scans to evaluate mechanisms of baroprotection, and the effects of these volumes on oxygen storage and buoyancy.
The effects of acute salinity challenges on osmoregulation in Mozambique tilapia reared in a tidally changing salinity
Summary: This study characterizes the differences in osmoregulatory capacity among Mozambique tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus, reared in freshwater (FW), seawater (SW), or under tidally driven changes in salinity.
The biological significance of acoustic stimuli determines ear preference in the music frog
Highlighted Article: Right ear advantage is demonstrated behaviorally in an anuran through an orientation task, which shows that differences in bio-significance induce variable responses, suggesting orientations are affected by mating strategy and emotion processing.
Functional characterisation of the chromatically antagonistic photosensitive mechanism of erythrophores in the tilapia Oreochromis niloticus
Summary: Aggregation of tilapia erythrophores in UV and short wavelengths and their dispersal in middle and long wavelengths is mediated by two antagonistic primary photopigments.
Common measures of immune function vary with time of day and sampling protocol in five passerine species
Summary: Measures of innate immune function vary with (1) handling stress over short time periods typical of field sample collection, and (2) the time of day that an individual is sampled.
Regulatory mechanisms of metabolic flexibility in the dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis)
Summary: Cold-acclimated juncos exhibit elevated thermogenic capacities and transcriptomic signatures indicating enhanced oxygen delivery and increased transport and β-oxidation of fatty acids.
Reproduction potentiated in nematodes (Caenorhabditis elegans) and guppy fish (Poecilia reticulata) by adding a synthetic peptide to their aqueous environment
Summary: A synthetic hexamer (6mer) peptide has been identified that enhanced fecundity in invertebrates (nematodes) and vertebrates (guppy fish), seemingly via antagonism of an unidentified endogenous reproductive inhibitor.
Streamwise vortices destabilize swimming bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus)
Summary: Fish exposed to streamwise vorticity increase energy consumption on average by 6%, likely due to spilling events and subsequent recovery, which were much more frequent under vorticity.
Nutrient balancing of the adult worker bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) depends on the dietary source of essential amino acids
Summary: The essential amino acid profile of the bumblebee diet influences regulation of the amount of both protein and carbohydrate consumed.
Selection for upper thermal tolerance in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss Walbaum)
Summary: Rainbow trout in Pemberton Freshwater Research Centre, Western Australia, demonstrated their impressive thermal performance in terms of cardiorespiratory function.
New funding schemes for junior faculty staff
In celebration of our 100th anniversary, JEB has launched two new grants to support junior faculty staff working in animal comparative physiology and biomechanics who are within five years of setting up their first lab/research group. Check out our ECR Visiting Fellowships and Research Partnership Kickstart Travel Grants.
JEB@100: an interview with Monitoring Editor Stuart Egginton
Stuart Egginton reveals how he overcame the challenges of being a comparative physiologist in a medical school and how he would tell his younger self to trust his instincts when pursuing new ideas.
Travelling Fellowships from JEB
Our Travelling Fellowships offer up to £3,000 to graduate students and post-doctoral researchers wishing to make collaborative visits to other laboratories. Next deadline to apply is 27 October 2023
Feedforward and feedback control in the neuromechanics
Auke J. Ijspeert and Monica A. Daley provide an overview of key knowledge gained from comparative vertebrate experiments and insights obtained from neuromechanical simulations and robotic approaches. Read the full Centenary Review Article here.
Light fine-tunes electric fish pulses to keep them in the shade
Weakly electric fish perceive their surroundings through electric chirrups and now Ana Camargo & colleagues have revealed that light fine-tunes the fish's electric pulses to ensure that they remain scheduled beneath the mats of vegetation they use for shelter, avoiding penetrating beams of light that could give them away.
