Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: A bigeye thresher shark returning to the deep after being caught and released during experimental fishing trials. At dusk, bigeye thresher sharks rise from deep, dark and cold water into warmer water at the ocean's surface, where they will forage overnight before descending into darkness again at dawn. During these diel migrations, bigeye thresher sharks experience an exceptionally wide range of water temperatures (6-25°C). Morrison et al. (jeb244979) found that bigeye thresher shark blood has a relatively low thermal sensitivity compared with other shark species, which potentially prevents large environmental temperature changes from affecting oxygen extraction from the water. Photo credit: Ralph Pace and the Pfleger Institute of Environmental Research.
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INSIDE JEB
PERSPECTIVE
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
Blood python (Python brongersmai) strike kinematics and forces are robust to variations in substrate geometry
Highlighted Article: Blood pythons maintain high strike performance on flat surfaces by imparting rearward momentum to the posterior body and tail, using them as an inertial appendage, allowing the snake to apply high fore–aft forces without slipping, and thus exploit variable environments.
Anchor threads can double the insect flight energy absorbed by spider orb webs
Summary: The anchor threads of spider orb webs allow greater movement of the web’s capture area, increasing the amount of absorbed kinetic energy and thus improving prey capture efficacy.
METHODS & TECHNIQUES
A gelatin-based feed for precise and non-invasive drug delivery to adult zebrafish
Summary: Development of a new method for precise and non-invasive drug delivery to aquatic animals using a palatable gelatin-based feed.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
The effect of temperature on haemoglobin–oxygen binding affinity in regionally endothermic and ectothermic sharks
Summary: The blood of common thresher shark and shortfin mako shark exhibits temperature-independent Hb–O2 binding affinity, whereas bigeye thresher shark blood has a high Hb–O2 affinity and a relatively low thermal sensitivity.
Sperm calcium flux and membrane potential hyperpolarization observed in the Mexican big-eared bat Corynorhinus mexicanus
Summary: CatSper activity in bat spermatozoa, as well as events during capacitation, such as hyperactivation and plasma membrane hyperpolarization, correlate with sperm maturation during storage in the epididymis.
Temperature-dependent metabolic consequences of food deprivation in the European sardine
Highlighted Article: Long-term winter food deprivation in sardines elicits energy-saving mechanisms, whereas summer food deprivation has disastrous effects, especially on survival and on use of energy reserves.
Geometric latches enable tuning of ultrafast, spring-propelled movements
Summary: Tiny adjustments to geometric latches tune variation of ultrafast spring-propelled movements.
Visual detection threshold in the echolocating Daubenton's bat (Myotis daubentonii)
Summary: The insectivorous echolocating bat Myotis daubentonii can see light levels equivalent to the luminance of terrestrial objects in an open habitat under a moonless clear starlit sky.
Gap selection and steering during obstacle avoidance in pigeons
Summary: The flight trajectories of pigeons steering through gaps between obstacles are well modelled by the same proportional navigation guidance law as describes the pursuit behaviours of birds and insects.
Hindlimb muscle spindles inform preparatory forelimb coordination prior to landing in toads
Summary: Toads may rely on hindlimb sensory information during take-off to tune their forelimb muscle activation in order to land effectively.
From quadrupedal to bipedal walking ‘on the fly’: the mechanics of dynamical mode transition in primates
Highlighted Article: Mechanical analysis of the smooth, continuous transition from a quadrupedal to bipedal locomotor mode in baboons reveals a common strategy: crouch the hind parts and sprint them underneath the rising body centre of mass.
A comparison of odor plume-tracking behavior of walking and flying insects in different turbulent environments
Summary: Walking male cockroaches and flying male moths track pheromone plumes more directly in experimental conditions more characteristic of their natural environments, i.e. low wind speed+low turbulence for walking cockroaches and higher wind speed+higher turbulence for flying moths.
Individual response in body mass and basal metabolism to the risks of predation and starvation in passerines
Summary: Wintering small birds faced with the risk of predation and starvation primarily respond by modulating energy reserves. However, wild great tits can also adjust their energy expenditure adaptively.
ECR SPOTLIGHTS
CORRECTION
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.