Issues
-
Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: A simulation illustrating the optical field intensity inside an oil droplet and outer segment of a cone photoreceptor. Wilby and Roberts (pp. 1997–2004) calculated how oil droplets influence the absolute sensitivity of vision. Transparent oil droplets found in the cone photoreceptors of some frogs and toads, as well as birds' ultraviolet-sensitive photoreceptors, focus more light into the cone, improving sensitivity. However, strongly pigmented oil droplets in the other spectral classes of cone photoreceptors in birds and reptiles tune their colour vision at the expense of absolute sensitivity.
- PDF Icon PDF LinkTable of contents
- PDF Icon PDF LinkIssue info
INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
REVIEW
Mechanisms underlying the control of responses to predator odours in aquatic prey
Summary: A review of the mechanisms known to date that mediate the diversity of responses seen in aquatic prey exposed to predator odours and their associated diet cues.
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
Sex reversal induces size and performance differences among females of the African pygmy mouse, Mus minutoides
Highlighted Article: Female Mus minutoides sometimes carry a Y chromosome. This chromosomal change is advantageous as sex-reversed females show greater skull size and higher bite force than XX females.
Hearing on the fly: the effects of wing position on noctuid moth hearing
Summary: Noctuid moth wing position affects neural hearing sensitivity. No significant differences in eardrum movement occur; therefore, differences are hypothesized to be due to internal factors such as muscle tension.
METHODS & TECHNIQUES
High-speed surface reconstruction of a flying bird using structured light
Summary: Demonstration of a new high-speed structured-light technique that can automatically record the 3D surface of a bird taking off to analyze wing geometry and aerodynamic variables time-resolved.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Disruptive colouration in reef fish: does matching the background reduce predation risk?
Summary: Vertically barred patterns provide protection for prey from visual predators even when they mismatch the spatial frequency of background habitats.
Spiders have rich pigmentary and structural colour palettes
Summary: An optimized workflow combining light microscopy, electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy reveals previously unknown pigments, pigment-filled organelles and structural colours in spiders.
Functional morphology of tarsal adhesive pads and attachment ability in ticks Ixodes ricinus (Arachnida, Acari, Ixodidae)
Highlighted Article: Ixodes ricinus is equipped with elastic claws and foldable adhesive pads which result in a tarsal attachment of up to 534 times female body mass to smooth surfaces.
Optical influence of oil droplets on cone photoreceptor sensitivity
Summary: Optical simulations reveal how both oil droplets and ellipsoid structures in cone photoreceptors can influence optical sensitivity by collecting or reflecting light. Transparent oil droplets and ellipsoids improve sensitivity, whereas pigmented oil droplets reduce sensitivity.
Flight control of fruit flies: dynamic response to optic flow and headwind
Summary: Measurement and characterisation of the dynamic flight response of fruit flies reveal that their flight controller weighs visual and wind stimuli approximately equally, to produce flight thrust and adjust the pitch of the abdomen.
Effects of temperature and force requirements on muscle work and power output
Summary: The temperature at which a muscle shortens determines how the work, velocity and power of contraction are affected by the force of contraction.
Living with a leaky skin: upregulation of ion transport proteins during sloughing
Highlighted Article: Amphibians maintain internal electrolyte balance through upregulation of cutaneous ion transporters, to compensate for the increased skin ‘leakiness’ that occurs during sloughing.
Ontogeny of bite force in a validated biomechanical model of the American alligator
Summary: A high-fidelity 3D computational model of alligator bite force that can be used for inferring feeding behavior in fossils.
Extreme polarisation sensitivity in the retina of the corn borer moth Ostrinia
Summary: Polarisation vision in the moths is not confined to the dorsal rim area; the retina of Crambid, Noctuid and Saturniid moths and some dung beetles contains distal photoreceptors with extremely high polarisation sensitivity.
Olfactory sensitivity of the marine flatfish Solea senegalensis to conspecific body fluids
Summary: Olfactory sensitivity to conspecific urine and intestinal fluid depends on the sex and maturity of both the donor and receiver in the Senegalese sole, a marine flatfish, which is indicative of pheromonal communication.
Heat-resistant cytosolic malate dehydrogenases (cMDHs) of thermophilic intertidal snails (genus Echinolittorina): protein underpinnings of tolerance to body temperatures reaching 55°C
Highlighted Article: Cytosolic malate dehydrogenases of heat-resistant Echinolittorina snails have the greatest heat stability known for animal orthologs of this protein because of a small number of amino acid substitutions that modify structural flexibility at and around the enzyme's active site.
Escape path complexity and its context dependency in Pacific blue-eyes (Pseudomugil signifer)
Summary: The escape paths of fish are context dependent, showing more unpredictability when attacks come from closer distances.
Muscle–tendon mechanics explain unexpected effects of exoskeleton assistance on metabolic rate during walking
Summary: Lower-limb exoskeletons often produce odd adaptations in humans. Muscle-level mechanics and energetics, estimated in data-driven simulations of exoskeleton-assisted walking, can explain why.
Model-assisted measurements of suspension-feeding flow velocities
Summary: Mya arenaria, Mercenaria mercenaria and Ciona intestinalis exhibit a wide range of suspension feeding rates as demonstrated by a combined experimental and numerical approach to quantifying fluid flows.
Mechanical adaptability of sea cucumber Cuvierian tubules involves a mutable collagenous tissue
Summary: Sea cucumber Cuvierian tubules are a remarkable defence system with characteristics of mutable collagenous tissues, showing initial compliance and subsequent irreversible tensilin-mediated stiffening, which allows them to entangle predators.
Ecology of ontogenetic body-mass scaling of gill surface area in a freshwater crustacean
Summary: Body-mass scaling of gill surface area of an amphipod is shallower in freshwater springs with versus without fish predators, thus matching the scaling of oxygen demand for metabolism and growth.
The Integrative Biology of the Heart

We are pleased to welcome submissions to be considered for our upcoming special issue: The Integrative Biology of the Heart, guest edited by William Joyce and Holly Shiels. This issue will consider the biology of the heart at all levels of organisation, across animal groups and scientific fields.
JEB@100: an interview with Monitoring Editor John Terblanche

John Terblanche reveals how he narrowly avoided becoming a sports scientist and why he thinks phenotypic plasticity is the big question currently facing comparative physiologists. Find out more about the series on our Interviews page.
Vision 2024: Building Bridges in Visual Ecology

Early-career researchers can apply for funded places at our Vision 2024: Building Bridges in Visual Ecology. The event is organised by Eleanor Caves, Sonke Johnsen and Lorain Schweikert and being held at Buxted park 10-13 June 2023. Deadline 1 December 2023.
Reconciling the variability in the biological response of marine invertebrates to climate change

Drawing on work in reef-building corals, Zoe Dellaert and Hollie Putnam provide historical context to some of the long-standing challenges in global change biology that constrain our capacity for eco-evolutionary forecasting, as well as considering unresolved questions and future research approaches. Read the full Centenary Review Article here.
Sipping takes no effort for hovering hawkmoths

Hovering takes the most effort so how much energy does sipping require when hawkmoths hover? Next to nothing, apparently. Alexandre Palaoro & colleagues have discovered that the insects’ proboscises are incredibly wettable, drawing nectar along the length with no effort, giving them a free drink on the wing.