Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: WildPose, a novel long-range 3D motion capture system, observes a resting lion under a tree in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Botswana and South Africa. Introduced by Muramatsu et al. (jeb249987), this portable system integrates LiDAR and a zoom-lens camera, enabling remote monitoring of wildlife behavior. The system successfully captured subtle chest movements, revealing the lion's breathing patterns from distances exceeding 30 m, thereby minimizing human disturbance. Photo credit: Naoya Muramatsu.
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INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
CONVERSATION
REVIEW
(Limited) Predictability of thermal adaptation in invertebrates
Summary: Evolutionary genetic studies provide insights into thermal physiology, but suggest that adaptations to temperature are only partially predictable in invertebrates. This may limit some models predicting future responses to temperature.
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Exploring thermal tolerance across time and space in a tropical bivalve, Pinctada margaritifera
Summary: An integrative framework combining insights from thermal death time (TDT) curves and physiological reaction norms precisely captures Pinctada margaritifera thermal performance and tolerance landscape.
METHODS & TECHNIQUES
WildPose: a long-range 3D wildlife motion capture system
Highlighted Article: Development of WildPose: a portable, long-range 3D motion capture system, combining LiDAR and zoom-lens cameras, enabling precise, non-intrusive wildlife observation and advancing ecological and biomechanical research.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Stimulation of teleost pallium elicits an integrated feeding kinematic pattern important for prey capture
Summary: Long-train electrical stimulation of the pallial surface produces distinct orobranchial kinematic patterns that represent predatory behaviour in teleost fish.
Allatostatin-C signaling in the crab Carcinus maenas is implicated in the ecdysis program
Highlighted Article: The pleiotropic actions of allatostatin-C peptides are not well known. Neuroanatomical investigations, coupled with receptor de-orphaning and measurement of circulating titers, suggest previously unreported roles in the ecdysis program.
Effects of social environment and energy efficiency on preferred swim speed in a marine generalist fish, pile perch (Phanerodon vacca)
Highlighted Article: The social environment, but not energetic optimal swimming speed, affects preferred swimming speed in a marine generalist fish.
Gain of thermal tolerance through acclimation is quicker than the loss by de-acclimation in the freeze-tolerant potworm, Enchytraeus albidus
Summary: The temporal dynamics of thermal tolerance plasticity following thermal acclimation in Enchytraeus albidus depends on both culture and acclimation temperatures, and is linked to changes in phospholipid fatty acid composition.
Ambient temperature leads to differential immune strategies in the subterranean rodent Ctenomys talarum
Summary: Thermoregulatory costs in Ctenomys talarum may limit the energy available for immunity, leading to different strategies to cope with infection during exposure to varying ambient temperature.
Two cGMP-dependent protein kinases have opposing effects on molt-inhibiting hormone regulation of Y-organ ecdysteroidogenesis
Summary: Four alternatively spliced PKG1 isoforms as well as PKG2 sequences were identified in crustaceans. In vitro YO assays with MIH±PKG inhibitors revealed PKG1 and PKG2 had opposing effects on MIH-regulated ecdysteroidogenesis.
Metabolomic signatures associated with cold adaptation and seasonal acclimation of Drosophila: profiling of 43 species
Highlighted Article: The metabolomic profiles of 43 Drosophila flies are correlated with climatic variables of their habitats and with their cold tolerance and ability to improve it in response to seasonal cold acclimation.
Functional characterization of thermosensitive TRPV channels from holocephalan elephant shark (Callorhinchus milii) illuminate the ancestral thermosensory system in vertebrates
Summary: Temperature-sensitive transient receptor potential (TRP) channels of the elephant shark, a cartilaginous fish, show unique heat and cold sensitivities, shedding light on vertebrate thermosensory evolution.
The influence of habitat complexity on otolith morphology and sensory capacities in Nile tilapia: a controlled experimental approach
Highlighted Article: Fish raised in structurally complex environments develop larger otoliths without altering their auditory sensitivity, supporting that the sagitta also plays a role in vestibular function.
Ghrelin suppresses water intake with a different physiological significance from atrial natriuretic peptide in conscious seawater-acclimated eels
Summary: Ghrelin inhibits water intake without vasopressor effect in conscious eels; thus, the action is unlikely mediated by ANP secretion. Additionally, it is likely mediated through different receptors from GHS-R1a.
Is this scenery worth exploring? Insight into the visual encoding of navigating ants
Summary: Virtual reality reveals that ants rely on a heuristic to trigger visual exploration in an unfamiliar scene. Simultaneous presence of vertical and horizontal edges is necessary and sufficient for ants to produce lateral oscillations and scan the scene.
It's a good thing that severely hypoxic salmon (Salmo salar) have a limited capacity to increase heart rate when warmed
Summary: Salmon that initiate hypoxic bradycardia cannot increase heart rate when warmed. This response is mediated by cholinergic tone and protects heart function.
A high-lipid diet leads to greater pathology and lower tolerance during infection
Summary: Canaries fed a diet high in lipids show more severe disease outcomes than those fed a high-protein diet, with important implications for human and wildlife disease transmission.
Fluoromicrometry reveals minimal influence of tendon elasticity during snake locomotion
Summary: Investigation of the relationship between muscle strain and posture in corn snakes in vivo using fluoromicrometry reveals a strong, predominately linear relationship between muscle shortening and vertebral column curvature, as predicted by mathematical modeling.
ECR SPOTLIGHT
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 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.