Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: Fan worms (Annelida: Sabellidae) can rapidly withdraw their tentacles, which are covered in heavily ciliated ramifications called pinnules, into their tubes to protect them from approaching threats. Jiang et al. (jeb245731 ) show that, in order to achieve these rapid, forceful movements through seawater without damaging their tentacles, fan worms have developed functional morphological adaptations to reduce fluidic drag, including the flattening of their radiolar pinnules and the deformation of bodily segmental ridges. Photo credit (Sabellastarte sp.): Michael J. Bok.
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INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
CONVERSATION
REVIEWS
Adaptive echolocation behavior of bats and toothed whales in dynamic soundscapes
Summary: This Review compares echolocation in bats and toothed whales, with special emphasis on predator–prey interactions and adaptive sonar behaviors used to negotiate complex natural scenes.
Effects of wing damage and moult gaps on vertebrate flight performance
Summary: The flight apparatus (wings, flight muscles, neuro-muscular control) of vertebrates is fine-tuned for efficient flight. I review causes and consequences of wear, damage and moult gaps that temporarily affect wing morphology and flight performance.
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Close encounters of three kinds: impacts of leg, wing and body collisions on flight performance in carpenter bees
Summary: Flying insects frequently collide with obstacles when navigating dense clutter, but the performance consequences of collisions depend on which parts of the insect (e.g. leg, wing, body) are involved.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Hawkmoths regulate flight torques with their abdomen for yaw control
Summary: Quantitative analysis of flight behavior, modeling and numerical simulation shows that the abdomen of hawkmoths can regulate wing-generated flight torques about the vertical (yaw) axis.
Developmental environment has lasting effects on amphibian post-metamorphic behavior and thermal physiology
Highlighted Article: Climatic stressors during development have lasting impacts on the thermal physiology, performance and behavior of juvenile frogs post-metamorphosis, with implications for susceptibility to predators and pathogens in subsequent life stages.
Regulation of the swimming kinematics of lampreys Petromyzon marinus across changes in viscosity
Summary: Swimming lampreys largely compensate for changes in viscosity, maintaining similar kinematics over 20× changes in viscosity, suggesting that they use sensory feedback to regulate their body waveform.
Low production of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species after anoxia and reoxygenation in turtle hearts
Highlighted Article: Low rates of mitochondrial O2·− production are responsible for lack of tissue damage upon reoxygenation after anoxia in turtles, likely owing to low succinate accumulation and low degradation of adenine nucleotides.
Rapid manoeuvre of fan worms (Annelida: Sabellidae) through tubes
Editor's choice: To achieve rapid movements through seawater, fan worms have developed functional morphological adaptations to reduce fluidic drag, including the flattening of their pinnules and the deformation of bodily segmental ridges.
Sensorimotor control of swimming Polypterus senegalus is preserved during sensory deprivation conditions across altered environments
Summary: Lateral line and visual systems of Polypterus senegalus are not critical for responding to fluid viscosity but may be involved in a forward model of motor control to adjust locomotion.
Experimental reduction in blood oxygen-carrying capacity alters foraging behaviour in a colonial waterbird
Summary: Experimental reduction of blood oxygen-carrying capacity in incubating black-headed gulls results in fine-scale alterations in foraging behaviour, as birds with induced haemolytic anaemia perform fewer, but longer foraging trips.
ECR SPOTLIGHTS
Embracing allyship in experimental biology to help close the gender gap

In their Perspective, Janneke Schwaner and Ksenia Keplinger propose 10 useful strategies for experimental biologists at all career stages to become active allies for gender diversity and inclusion and to help close the gender gap in our field.
The Company of Biologists celebrates its first Global South Workshop

In March 2024, Andrea Fuller and Kênia Bicego organised the first Global South (GS) Workshop hosted by The Company of Biologists - How Global South Research Can Shape the Future of Comparative Physiology - bringing together ECRs from the GS and international experts in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Find out about this extraordinary meeting in our Perspective.
High-resolution WildPose 3D scans revolutionise biomechanics in the wild

Collecting detailed kinematics from animals in the wild is a holy grail of biomechanics, and now Naoya Muramatsu and colleagues reveal the extraordinary observations that they have made with their new WildPose wildlife motion capture system in South Africa.
Interviews with Biologists @ 100 conference speakers

Explore our interviews with keynote speakers from the Biologists @ 100 conference, hosted to celebrate our publisher’s 100th anniversary, where we discuss climate change and biodiversity with Hans-Otto Pörtner and Jane Francis, health and disease with Charles Swanton and Sadaf Farooqi, and emerging technologies with Manu Prakash and Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz.
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.