Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: The ability of arboreal animals, like the ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata) pictured here, to move below branches is considered advantageous for expanding the potential feeding sphere, and as a mechanism to prevent falling off thin supports. While some primates are capable of arm-swinging, most animals move quadrupedally below branches, but little is known about the mechanical strategies animals use to effectively move in this manner. Granatosky et al. (pp. 53-63) explored limb-loading patterns of below-branch quadrupedal locomotion in two species of lemur, and determined that this mode of locomotion is mechanically similar to arm-swinging. Photo credit: David Haring.
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Behavioural effects of juvenile hormone and their influence on division of labour in leaf-cutting ant societies
Highlighted Article: Juvenile hormone is a key endocrine mediator of division of labour in leaf-cutting ant societies, causing behavioural transitions that mimic those seen in ants as they make the age-related switch from within-nest work to external work.
Walking patterns induced by learned odors in the honeybee, Apis mellifera L.
Summary: Stimulation by reward-associated odorants learned during conditioning of the proboscis extension response induces a characteristic walking pattern in honeybees, which changes during and after the odor stimulus.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Cold-hardening during long-term acclimation in a freeze-tolerant woolly bear caterpillar, Pyrrharctia isabella
Summary: After an extended period of cold acclimation, woolly bear caterpillars survived freezing at −20°C. Cold-hardening markedly increased hemolymph osmolality, as well as hemolymph levels of free proline, total amino acids and proteins.
Life history trade-offs imposed by dragline use in two money spiders
Summary: Single silk-related behaviours induce lifetime trade-offs and affect performance in two species of spider.
Differences in electrosensory anatomy and social behavior in an area of sympatry between two species of mormyrid electric fishes
Summary: Differences in the sensory system that mediates electric communication correlate with differences in social behavior between two sympatric species of African mormyrid fishes.
Spatial release from masking in insects: contribution of peripheral directionality and central inhibition
Summary: Spatial separation between a signal and a masking noise can contribute up to 20 dB to signal detection, as studied in two species of acoustic insects.
Gait kinetics of above- and below-branch quadrupedal locomotion in lemurid primates
Highlighted Article: The mechanics of below-branch quadrupedal locomotion in primates is not simply a mirror of above-branch quadrupedal locomotion, but instead shows kinetic similarities that may be related to arm swinging.
Dietary phosphate affects food selection, post-ingestive phosphorus fate, and performance of a polyphagous herbivore
Summary: Phosphorus limitation may be common for terrestrial herbivores; in response, grasshoppers can modulate P assimilation over a moderate range but extreme and/or long-term consumption of low-P or indeed even high-P food decreases growth and survival.
Sex- and melanism-specific variations in the oxidative status of adult tawny owls in response to manipulated reproductive effort
Summary: Effects of manipulated reproductive effort on oxidative status differ between sexes and colour morphs in a melanin-based polymorphic raptor species with a strong division of labour between the sexes.
Osmoregulation and salinity-induced oxidative stress: is oxidative adaptation determined by gill function?
Summary: Gill tissues with different functions (respiratory/osmoregulatory) differentially produce reactive oxygen species and are differently adapted to deal with oxidative stress.
Multimodal integration in the chicken
Summary: Most signals in everyday life consist of more than one modality; chickens can exploit the information in such crossmodal signals for sensory processing.
UV-B exposure reduces locomotor performance by impairing muscle function but not mitochondrial ATP production
Summary: UV-B-induced reactive oxygen species reduce locomotor performance of mosquitofish without affecting mitochondrial metabolism and ATP production.
Juvenile hormone downregulates vitellogenin production in Ectatomma tuberculatum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) sterile workers
Summary: Juvenile hormone downregulates vitellogenin synthesis in worker ants producing trophic eggs.
Ambient CO2, fish behaviour and altered GABAergic neurotransmission: exploring the mechanism of CO2-altered behaviour by taking a hypercapnia dweller down to low CO2 levels
Highlighted Article: Although high levels of CO2 have repeatedly been linked to behavioural disturbance in marine fish, reducing CO2 concentration alters behaviour in a hypercapnia-dwelling fish, suggesting that neural ion balance is fine-tuned to prevailing CO2 conditions.
Body ram, not suction, is the primary axis of suction-feeding diversity in spiny-rayed fishes
Summary: Acanthomorph fishes exhibit a large diversity of suction-feeding behaviors, which is driven by variation in the contribution of body ram. Suction distances are constrained even at broad evolutionary scales.
Announcing the 2024 JEB Outstanding Paper Prize shortlist and winner
Every year JEB celebrates early-career researchers through the Outstanding Paper Prize. We recognise the shortlisted ECRS that contributed to 11 remarkable studies published in 2024 and congratulate the winner, Elise Laetz, from University of Groningen. See how else JEB supports and promotes ECRs.
Inside the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change with Hans-Otto Pörtner
During the past two decades, Hans-Otto Pörtner has steered climate change policy as a co-Chair of IPCC Working Group II. He tells us about the experience in this Perspective.
Photosynthesis turns symbiotic sea anemone's tentacles toward sun
Snakelocks sea anemones point their tentacles, packed with symbiotic algae, toward the sun so their lodgers can photosynthesize, and now Vengamanaidu Modepalli & colleagues have discovered that photosynthesis by the algae guides their host's tentacles towards the sun.
History of our journals
As our publisher, The Company of Biologists, turns 100 years old, read about JEB’s history and explore the journey of each of our sister journals: Development, Journal of Cell Science, Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open.
