Issues
-
Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: The diablito poison frog (Oophaga sylvatica) rests on a leaf in a rainforest in Ecuador. Diablito frogs are chemically defended and sequester alkaloid toxins from their diet of leaf litter arthropods. In this issue, O'Connell et al. (jeb230342) show that alkaloids can be sequestered within 4 days of exposure and that this bioaccumulation changes the abundance of proteins involved in transport and metabolism in the intestines, liver and skin. Photo credit: Andrius Pasukonis.
- PDF Icon PDF LinkTable of contents
- PDF Icon PDF LinkIssue info
INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
NEWS
COMMENTARY
Do endotherms have thermal performance curves?
Summary: Endothermy allows for a degree of independence from environmental temperatures: does this division limit our ability to predict the impacts of changing temperatures on endotherm performance?
REVIEW
Do aquatic ectotherms perform better under hypoxia after warm acclimation?
Summary: Warm acclimation not only helps offset the detrimental effects of warming but also could improve performance under hypoxia. Therefore, acclimation is important in maintaining performance in a warmer, hypoxic world.
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
Rapid toxin sequestration modifies poison frog physiology
Summary: Poison frogs rapidly accumulate toxins, which changes the abundance of proteins involved in the immune system and small molecule binding and metabolism across tissues.
Epicatechin increases the persistence of long-term memory formed by conditioned taste aversion in Lymnaea
Summary: Epicatechin causes a decrease in activity of the cerebral giant cell and increases the persistence of long-term memory formed by conditioned taste aversion in Lymnaea, possibly via a GABAergic mechanism.
Latency of mechanically stimulated escape responses in the Pacific spiny dogfish, Squalus suckleyi
Summary: The latency of escape responses of the Pacific spiny dogfish to a predator threat is at least 3 times slower than that of any other teleost tested, supporting the hypothesis that the absence of Mauthner cells in the Pacific spiny dogfish and other elasmobranchs may be associated with longer latencies when escaping from a threat.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Does the preferred walk–run transition speed on steep inclines minimize energetic cost, heart rate or neither?
Summary: The human walk–run transition does not minimize energetic cost at moderate inclines, but does on steeper inclines (15 deg).
Motion parallax via head movements modulates visuo-motor control in pigeons
Highlighted Article: Evaluation of the effect of motion parallax on visual size perception in pigeons, using self-generated parallax stimuli, revealed that pigeons use motion parallax depth cues caused by head movements to modulate motor control.
Physiology and behavior under food limitation support an escape, not preparative, response in the nomadic pine siskin (Spinus pinus)
Summary: Changes in body composition, activity and corticosterone during a captive experiment demonstrate that a nomadic avian migrant is not sensitive to changes in food availability, but rather escapes low-resource areas.
Multisensory integration supports configural learning of a home refuge in the whip spider Phrynus marginemaculatus
Summary: Whip spiders, which navigate at night, can rely on a multisensory, configural representation to recognize their home refuge.
Symbiont regulation in Stylophora pistillata during cold stress: an acclimation mechanism against oxidative stress and severe bleaching
Summary: The rapid expulsion of a significant proportion of the symbiont population by the coral host during cooling conditions is an acclimation mechanism to avoid oxidative stress and severe bleaching.
Ontogeny of the star compass in birds: pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) can establish the star compass in spring
Summary: Migrating birds may establish their star compass in spring of the year following their first autumn migration or later.
Winter honeybee (Apis mellifera) populations show greater potential to induce immune responses than summer populations after immune stimuli
Summary: Immunity induced in 10-day-old workers that emerged and lived under hive conditions is stronger in winter bees than in summer bees. Immune stimuli decreased the production of the longevity marker vitellogenin.
Regulation of dietary intake of protein and lipid by nurse-age adult worker honeybees
Summary: Nurse-age adult worker honeybees regulate their intake of dietary essential amino acids and fat to a ratio of 1:2. Honeybees gain weight when fed diets high in fat.
The impact of the gut microbiome on memory and sleep in Drosophila
Highlighted Article:Drosophila experimentally deprived of their gut microbiome display changes in learning and memory, and in the duration of sleep under standard conditions and following sleep deprivation.
Ocean acidification alters properties of the exoskeleton in adult Tanner crabs, Chionoecetes bairdi
Summary: Two-year exposure of Tanner crabs to reduced-pH seawater resulted in exoskeletal alterations, including thinning, erosion, diminished claw hardness and, in the carapace, a shift in the phase of CaCO3.
Innovation in solitary bees is driven by exploration, shyness and activity levels
Summary: Solitary bees can show innovative behaviours to solve new problems; this propensity to innovate was uncorrelated with learning capacity, but increased with exploration, boldness and activity.
Contrasting strategies of osmotic and ionic regulation in freshwater crabs and shrimps: gene expression of gill ion transporters
Summary: During adaptation to fresh water, unrelated crustacean taxa have evolved contrasting osmoregulatory strategies: the crab Dilocarcinus pagei relies on cellular isosmoticity while the shrimp Macrobrachium jelskii regulates gill ion transporter transcription.
Rapid and parallel changes in activity and mRNA of intestinal peptidase to match altered dietary protein levels in juvenile house sparrows (Passer domesticus)
Summary: Phenotypic flexibility that is fast but not too fast: modulation of intestinal peptidase to match altered dietary protein level in nestling house sparrows involves parallel change in aminopeptidase-N activity and mRNA.
Response of the copepod Acartia tonsa to the hydrodynamic cues of small-scale, dissipative eddies in turbulence
Summary: Significant changes occur in the swimming kinematics of the copepod Acartia tonsa in response to small-scale, dissipative eddies that are encountered in turbulent environments, suggesting the swimming behavior response to the eddies themselves may be driving the biological and ecological effects of turbulence.
Lower-limb muscle function is influenced by changing mechanical demands in cycling
Summary: The human lower limb muscles have the capacity to adapt their function to satisfy the mechanical demands of the task, even during highly constrained, reciprocal tasks such as cycling.
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 of vertebrate locomotion

Auke J. Ijspeert and Monica A. Daley provide an overview of key knowledge on feedback and feedforward control gained from comparative vertebrate experiments 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.