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Cover image
Cover Image
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Close ModalCover: The flamboyantly colored beak of the toco toucan accounts for half of the bird’s body surface and is capable of dissipating up to 4 times the heat produced at rest. Toucans are able to modulate heat exchange through the bill to conserve or dump heat under cold and hot conditions, respectively. Chaves et al. (jeb245268) tested whether this ability minimizes the energetic cost of body temperature regulation, as ambient temperature varies. Comparing birds with intact bills with those who had it thermally insulated, they found that disabling the bill´s heat exchange ability was followed by a considerable increment in energy expenditure at temperatures exceeding 30°C. Photo credit: Ivan Cesar.
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INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
NEWS
REVIEW
The fire of evolution: energy expenditure and ecology in primates and other endotherms
Summary: This Review considers the history of energy expenditure research and highlights work on daily energy expenditure in primates, focusing specifically on measures of total energy expenditure.
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
Mallard landing behavior on water follows a 
-constant braking strategy
Summary: Mallards use a -constant braking strategy to regulate landing on water, but with less braking than in other animals. This results in mallards impacting the landing substrate at greater velocities than previously seen in pigeons.
An ultrasound-absorbing inflorescence zone enhances echo-acoustic contrast of bat-pollinated cactus flowers
An Ecuadorian cactus acoustically advertises its flowers to bats with a sound-absorbing structure. Sound dampening is achieved by fine hairs on the surface of the cactus.
Crows protect visual working memory against interference
Summary: Crows possess active working memory enabling them to cognitively control and safeguard the memorization of relevant information.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Estradiol regulates voltage-gated potassium currents in corticotropin-releasing hormone neurons
Summary: Chronic estradiol replacement in ovariectomized mice influences voltage-gated potassium channel function.
Thermal performance curve of endurance running at high temperatures in deer mice
Endurance running capacity of deer mice is reduced above ambient temperatures of 35°C, when body temperatures exceed 40°C; this upper threshold for impairment of endurance corresponds to temperatures that induced heat responses at rest.
Thermoregulatory trade-offs underlie the effects of warming summer temperatures on deer mice
Summary: Exposure of deer mice to conditions simulating peak summer disrupts body temperature and reduces activity and body mass; daytime heat exposure may have detrimental impacts that persist at cooler night-time temperatures.
Multiscale flow between the branches and polyps of gorgonians
Summary: Extension and retraction of gorgonian polyps can modify their local environment for more efficient feeding and drag reduction.
Evolutionary trade-offs in osmotic and ionic regulation and expression of gill ion transporter genes in high latitude, cold clime Neotropical crabs from the ‘end of the world’
Summary: Sub-Antarctic crabs may economize on ion regulatory capabilities to apportion energy for metabolic processes. They hyper/hypo-regulate chloride well but osmoconform or hyperosmoregulate weakly; sodium is strongly hyper-regulated. Gill transporter gene expressions diverge markedly.
Lower-level predictors and behavioral correlates of maximal aerobic capacity and sprint speed among individual lizards
Summary: Inter-individual variation in field behavior is related to performance ability, which in turn reflects differences in morphology and physiology, although not parasite load, in a population of lizards.
Energetic costs of bill heat exchange demonstrate contributions to thermoregulation at high temperatures in toco toucans (Ramphastos toco)
Toco toucan (Ramphastos toco) bills play an important role in heat exchange. Insulating the bill leads to higher metabolic rates at high temperatures, as toucans engage in more costly thermolytic mechanisms.
ECR SPOTLIGHTS
The Forest of Biologists
We are excited to announce the launch of The Forest of Biologists, a new biodiversity initiative created with support from the Woodland Trust, aiming to counteract nature loss and safeguard some of the most critically endangered ecosystems for future generations. For every Research Article and Review/Commentary article that is published in JEB (and our sister journals Development, Journal of Cell Science, Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open), a native tree is planted in a forest in the UK.
Celebrating 100 years of discovery
We are proud to be celebrating 100 years of discovery in Journal of Experimental Biology. Visit our centenary webpage to find out more about how we are marking this historic milestone.
Looking back on the first issue of JEB
Journal of Experimental Biology launched in 1923 as The British Journal of Experimental Biology. As we celebrate our centenary, we look back at that first issue and the zoologists publishing their work in the new journal.
JEB@100 Conversation
In our new Conversation series JEB@100, JEB Editor-in-Chief Craig Franklin talks about the big outstanding questions in the field of physiological plasticity and why he thinks a sense of community is key to the journal's success. Find out more here.
Surface friction alters the agility of a small Australian marsupial
Matthew Eizenga and colleagues have discovered that Mexican fruit flies vanish in a blur in the eyes of predatory spiders when they wave their wings at the arachnids, buying the flies time to make their escape.
Propose new workshop for 2025
Do you have an idea for a Workshop? We are now accepting proposals for our 2025 Biologists Workshops programme. As the scientific organiser, your involvement will be focused on the science. We'll take care of all the logistics. In 2025 we'll continue our efforts to diversify our Workshop programme and will be reserving one of our Workshops for an application from a Global South (GS) country to host an event overseas.
