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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: Bottlenose dolphins use a variety of different foraging strategies. During ‘crater feeding’ they dig head-first into the sand to feed on bottom-dwelling fish. In a behavioral experiment, Hüttner et al. (jeb245845) investigated the bottlenose dolphin’s ability to sense electric fields in water, as generated by fish and other aquatic animals. Based on the determined thresholds, electroreception could help dolphins detect the electric fields of fish at close distances and increase their chances of snapping at their prey. Beyond foraging, this newly discovered electrosense could play a role in large-scale navigation through induction-based magnetoreception. Photo credit: Shane Gross (www.shanegross.com).
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INSIDE JEB
CONVERSATION
PERSPECTIVE
COMMENTARY
Journey through the history of Journal of Experimental Biology: a timeline
Summary: This Commentary summarises the history of Journal of Experimental Biology from its foundation by Lancelot Hogben, Julian Huxley and Francis Crew in 1923 to the present day.
REVIEW
Parameterizing mechanistic niche models in biophysical ecology: a review of empirical approaches
Summary: Mechanistic niche models are frequently used to predict climate vulnerability and species range dynamics. Here, we review the observations and experiments frequently used to parameterize mechanistic niche models.
METHODS & TECHNIQUES
pi_tailtrack: A compact, inexpensive and open-source behaviour-tracking system for head-restrained zebrafish
Summary: pi_tailtrack is a Raspberry Pi-based imaging system that generates high-quality behavioural tracking data of larval zebrafish during functional imaging, using hardware that costs ∼340€.
Scoring thermal limits in small insects using open-source, computer-assisted motion detection
Summary: Development of a motion detection algorithm for reliable, automatic scoring of thermal limits in insects using an open-source tool.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Modulation of limb mechanics in alligators moving across varying grades
Summary: Alligators maintain speed when transitioning between varying grades by modulating limb mechanics such that limbs stay extended and static stability is prioritized during downhill walking.
Speed-specific optimal contractile conditions of the human soleus muscle from slow to maximum running speed
Summary: Experimental evidence that the human soleus muscle favors contractile conditions for economical work production during submaximal running and for enhancing mechanical power production during maximal running speed.
Multi-omics reveals largely distinct transcript- and protein-level responses to the environment in an intertidal mussel
Summary: The importance of transcript- and protein-level regulation differs across cellular functions and environmental contexts, and transcript and protein expression have higher concordance in stressful conditions.
Field-realistic exposure to neonicotinoid and sulfoximine insecticides impairs visual and olfactory learning and memory in Polistes paper wasps
Summary: Field-realistic insecticide exposure is detrimental to wasps, as it decreases movement, survival and visual and olfactory learning and memory in Polistes paper wasps.
Impacts of repeated social defeat on behavior and the brain in a cichlid fish
Repeated social defeat experiments in a cichlid fish highlight conserved brain networks underlying social stress resilience and susceptibility.
Long-term stress induced cortisol downregulation, growth reduction and cardiac remodeling in Atlantic salmon
Summary: Examination of the association of long-term stress with cardiac remodeling in Atlantic salmon, using scale cortisol as a chronic stress biomarker.
Noise-induced damage in the zebrafish inner ear endorgans: evidence for higher acoustic sensitivity of saccular and lagenar hair cells
Noise-treated zebrafish show greater hair cell and synapse loss in the inner ear saccule, followed by the lagena, suggesting their greater sensitivity and role in hearing loss compared with the utricle.
Tracing exploitation of egg boons: an experimental study using fatty acids and stable isotopes
Summary: Use of a combination of fatty acids and stable isotopes to trace egg consumption in several marine species that occupy lower trophic levels than the fish that produced the eggs.
Passive electroreception in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus): implication for micro- and large-scale orientation
Bottlenose dolphins can detect electric fields in water and could be able to use this information for short-range prey detection as well as large-scale orientation.
ECR SPOTLIGHT
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.
