Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: A southern right whale mother–calf pair surfacing at the Head of Bight, South Australia. Christiansen et al. (jeb245137) used aerial footage like this to measure the rate of body condition loss and respiration of whales, which in turn was used to estimate energy expenditure. The whales’ mass-specific energy expenditure was found to decline with body size, while it increased with activity level and was higher for reproductively active females. Being able to quantify the energy expenditure of large whales, for which conventional methods cannot be applied, is critical to understand the cost of anthropogenic disturbance on whale populations. Photo credit: Fredrik Christiansen.
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INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
CONVERSATION
REVIEW
Hunting with heat: thermosensory-driven foraging in mosquitoes, snakes and beetles
Summary: Mosquitoes, snakes and beetles all hunt targets, from people and mice centimeters away to burning forests kilometers away, using the heat these targets emit. We review the diverse mechanisms involved.
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Hyposalinity reduces coordination and adhesion of sea urchin tube feet
Summary: We demonstrate that sea urchin righting response, locomotion and adhesion are negatively impacted by hyposalinity, an environmental challenge expected to increase in intensity and frequency under global climate change.
METHODS & TECHNIQUES
OSpRad: an open-source, low-cost, high-sensitivity spectroradiometer
Summary: The OSpRad spectroradiometer uses off-the-shelf components and 3D-printed parts, and can be controlled via smartphone. It operates from approximately 320 to 880 nm, and at low light down to approximately 0.001 cd m−2.
Measuring the 3D wake of swimming snakes (Natrix tessellata) using volumetric particle image velocimetry
Summary: Development of a method for measuring the 3D vortical structures of anguilliform swimmers using volumetric velocimetry, providing a baseline for comparing swimming efficiency and wake structures of snakes with different morphologies and ecologies.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Metabolic consequences of sex reversal in two lizard species: a test of the like-genotype and like-phenotype hypotheses
Summary: Analysis of sex reversal in two lizard species indicates that the consequences of energy use and growth vary depending on the phenotype that reverses sex, and energy consequences may differ as individuals grow larger.
Strong positive allometry of bite force in leaf-cutter ants increases the range of cuttable plant tissues
Summary: A strong positive allometry of bite force enables leaf-cutter ant colonies to forage on a wider range of plant species without the need for extreme investment in even larger ant workers.
Evidence for energy reallocation, not oxygen limitation, driving the deceleration in growth of adult fish
Summary: Access to surplus energy, but not to oxygen, leads to improved post-maturation growth in fish, suggesting a role for energy reallocation, not oxygen limitation, in driving the deceleration of adult growth.
Understanding muscle function during perturbed in vivo locomotion using a muscle avatar approach
Highlighted Article: Investigation of effects of strain and activation on muscle force and work using a muscle avatar approach in which measured strain and activation patterns from a muscle of interest are applied to ex vivo muscles from laboratory rodents.
The effects of crank power and cadence on muscle fascicle shortening velocity, muscle activation and joint-specific power during cycling
Summary: Shortening velocity at self-selected cadence increases with power output, whereas at low power demands, minimizing knee muscle activation becomes important in cadence selection during cycling.
High epigenetic potential protects songbirds against pathogenic Salmonella enterica infection
Summary: Birds with high CpG content (epigenetic potential) in the promoter of an important immune gene are better able to resist Salmonella infection, suggesting that the genetic architecture underlying DNA methylation might be an important facilitator of adaptive plasticity.
Effect of metabolic rate on time-lag changes in otolith microchemistry: an experimental approach using Salmo trutta
Highlighted Article: Individual trout with the highest metabolic rate are more likely to record detailed temporal changes in their otoliths.
Using 15N to determine the metabolic fate of dietary nitrogen in North Pacific spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias suckleyi)
Summary: Tracking of dietary labelled nitrogen reveals sustained enrichment in the intestinal spiral valve of spiny dogfish, indicating its importance in the acquisition of the nitrogen necessary for marine elasmobranch urea synthesis and osmoregulation.
Omega-3 enriched chick diet reduces the foraging areas of breeders in two closely related shearwaters from contrasting marine environments
Summary: Cory's and Cape Verde shearwaters reduced their 95% kernel utilization distribution when their chicks were supplemented with omega-3 fatty acids, and Cory's shearwaters also reduced their foraging effort.
Diving behaviour of southern elephant seals: new models of behavioural and ecophysiological adjustments of oxygen store management
Editor's choice: New models explain how southern elephant seals could perform their dives and how their buoyancy impacts their capabilities.
Differentiation and function of cardiac valves in the adult Drosophila heart
Summary: Adult cardiac valves act sequentially as a result of muscle contraction, and exhibit a similar morphology to larval valves but show fewer cell shape changes. The larval valve is retained during metamorphosis.
Energy expenditure of southern right whales varies with body size, reproductive state and activity level
Summary: Use of novel drone technology to measure the respiration rate and body condition loss of southern right whales reveals that mass-specific energy expenditure declines with body size, increases with activity level and is higher for reproductively active females.
ECR SPOTLIGHTS
CORRECTION
Using the reactive scope model to redefine social stress in fishes

In their Review, Katie Gilmour and colleagues redefine the ambiguous concept of social stress by using the reactive scope model as a framework to explain the divergent physiological phenotypes of dominant and subordinate fishes.
JEB grants to support junior faculty

Learn about the grants that we launched in 2023 to support junior faculty from two of our awardees: Erin Leonard, Early-Career Researcher (ECR) Visiting Fellowship recipient, and Pauline Fleischmann, Research Partnership Kickstart Travel Grant recipient. The next deadline to apply is 6 June 2025.
Thirteen-lined ground squirrels survive extraordinarily low blood oxygen

Brynne Duffy and colleagues reveal that thirteen-lined ground squirrels are true hypoxia champions surviving extreme low blood oxygen, down to just 34% oxygen, when they emerge briefly from hibernation.
The Company of Biologists Workshops

For the last 15 years, our publisher, The Company of Biologists, has provided an apt environment to inspire biology and support biologists through our Workshops series. Read about the evolution of the Workshop series and revisit JEB's experience with hosting the first Global South Workshop.
Fast & Fair peer review

Our sister journal Biology Open has recently launched the next phase of their Fast & Fair peer review initiative: offering high-quality peer review within 7 working days. To learn more about BiO’s progress and future plans, read the Editorial by Daniel Gorelick, or visit the Fast & Fair peer review page.