Trunk and leg kinematics of grounded and aerial running in bipedal macaques [RESEARCH ARTICLE]
Reinhard Blickhan, Emanuel Andrada, Eishi Hirasaki, and Naomichi Ogihara
Across a wide range of Froude speeds, non-human primates such as macaques prefer to use grounded and aerial running when locomoting bipedally. Both gaits are characterized by bouncing kinetics of the center of mass. In contrast, a discontinuous change from pendular to bouncing kinetics occurs in human locomotion. To clarify the mechanism underlying these differences in bipedal gait mechanics between humans and non-human primates, we investigated the influence of gait on joint kinematics in the legs and trunk of three macaques crossing an experimental...
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - January 15, 2021 Category: Biology Authors: Blickhan, R., Andrada, E., Hirasaki, E., Ogihara, N. Tags: Comparative biomechanics of movement RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Nocturnal reef residents have deep-sea-like eyes [INSIDE JEB]
Kathryn Knight (Source: Journal of Experimental Biology)
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - January 13, 2021 Category: Biology Authors: Knight, K. Tags: INSIDE JEB Source Type: research
The visual ecology of Holocentridae, a nocturnal coral reef fish family with a deep-sea-like multibank retina [RESEARCH ARTICLE]
Fanny de Busserolles, Fabio Cortesi, Lily Fogg, Sara M. Stieb, Martin Luehrmann, and N. Justin Marshall
The visual systems of teleost fishes usually match their habitats and lifestyles. Since coral reefs are bright and colourful environments, the visual systems of their diurnal inhabitants have been more extensively studied than those of nocturnal species. In order to fill this knowledge gap, we conducted a detailed investigation of the visual system of the nocturnal reef fish family Holocentridae. Results showed that the visual system of holocentrids is well adapted to their nocturnal lifestyle with a rod-dominated retin...
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - January 13, 2021 Category: Biology Authors: de Busserolles, F., Cortesi, F., Fogg, L., Stieb, S. M., Luehrmann, M., Marshall, N. J. Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Tactile active sensing in an insect plant pollinator [RESEARCH ARTICLE]
T. Deora, M. A. Ahmed, T. L. Daniel, and B. W. Brunton The interaction between insects and the flowers they pollinate has driven the evolutionary diversity of both insects and flowering plants, two groups with the most numerous species on earth. Insects use vision and olfaction to localize host plants, but we know relatively little about how they find the tiny nectary opening in the flower, which can be well beyond their visual resolution. Especially when vision is limited, touch becomes crucial in successful insect-plant pollination interactions. Here, we study the remarkable feeding behavior of crepuscular hawkmoths Mand...
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - January 13, 2021 Category: Biology Authors: Deora, T., Ahmed, M. A., Daniel, T. L., Brunton, B. W. Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Oxygen doesn't limit mayflies when the temperature soars [INSIDE JEB]
Kathryn Knight (Source: Journal of Experimental Biology)
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - January 12, 2021 Category: Biology Authors: Knight, K. Tags: INSIDE JEB Source Type: research
Chilly smaller chicks can't forage as long [INSIDE JEB]
Kathryn Knight (Source: Journal of Experimental Biology)
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - January 12, 2021 Category: Biology Authors: Knight, K. Tags: INSIDE JEB Source Type: research
Local Fijian bees at more risk than imposters [INSIDE JEB]
Kathryn Knight (Source: Journal of Experimental Biology)
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - January 12, 2021 Category: Biology Authors: Knight, K. Tags: INSIDE JEB Source Type: research
Low incubation temperature slows the development of cold tolerance in a precocial bird [RESEARCH ARTICLE]
Andreas Nord and Jan-Ake Nilsson
Incubating birds trade off self-maintenance for keeping eggs warm. This causes lower incubation temperature in more challenging conditions, with consequences for a range of offspring traits. It is not yet clear how low developmental temperature affects cold tolerance early in life. This is ecologically important because before full thermoregulatory capacity is attained, precocial chicks must switch between foraging and being brooded when their body temperature declines. Hence, we studied how cold tolerance during conditions similar to a feeding bout in the wild was affected by incubation t...
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - January 12, 2021 Category: Biology Authors: Nord, A., Nilsson, J.-A. Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Effects of temperature on physiological performance and behavioral thermoregulation in an invasive fish, the round goby [RESEARCH ARTICLE]
We examined the effects of acclimation to temperatures ranging from 5 to 28°C on aerobic metabolic rates, upper temperature tolerance (critical thermal maximum, CTmax), as well as temperature preference (Tpref) and avoidance (Tavoid) of the round goby (Neogobius melanostomus), one of the most impactful invasive species in the world. We show that round goby maintained a high aerobic scope from 15 to 28°C; that is, the capacity to increase its aerobic metabolic rate above that of its maintenance metabolism remained high across a broad thermal range. Although CTmax increased relatively little with acclimation temperat...
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - January 12, 2021 Category: Biology Authors: Christensen, E. A. F., Norin, T., Tabak, I., van Deurs, M., Behrens, J. W. Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Rightward shift of optimal fascicle length with decreasing voluntary activity level in the soleus and lateral gastrocnemius muscles [RESEARCH ARTICLE]
Anthony L. Hessel, Brent J. Raiteri, Michael J. Marsh, and Daniel Hahn
Much of our understanding of in vivo skeletal muscle properties is based on studies performed under maximal activation, which is problematic because muscles are rarely activated maximally during movements such as walking. Currently, force–length properties of the human triceps surae at submaximal voluntary muscle activity levels are not characterized. We therefore evaluated plantar flexor torque– and force–ankle angle, and torque– and force–fascicle length properties of the soleus and lateral gastrocnemius muscles during v...
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - January 12, 2021 Category: Biology Authors: Hessel, A. L., Raiteri, B. J., Marsh, M. J., Hahn, D. Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Oxygen limitation fails to explain upper chronic thermal limits and the temperature size rule in mayflies [RESEARCH ARTICLE]
David H. Funk, Bernard W. Sweeney, and John K. Jackson
An inability to adequately meet tissue oxygen demands has been proposed as an important factor setting upper thermal limits in ectothermic invertebrates (especially aquatic species) as well as explaining the observed decline in adult size with increased rearing temperature during the immature stages (a phenomenon known as the temperature size rule, or TSR). We tested this by rearing three aquatic insects (the mayflies Neocloeon triangulifer and two species of the Cloeon dipterum complex) through their entire larval life under a range of temperature and oxygen concentr...
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - January 12, 2021 Category: Biology Authors: Funk, D. H., Sweeney, B. W., Jackson, J. K. Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Complex sensory environments alter mate choice outcomes [RESEARCH ARTICLE]
Ryan C. Taylor, Kyle O. Wilhite, Rosalind J. Ludovici, Kelsey M. Mitchell, Wouter Halfwerk, Rachel A. Page, Michael J. Ryan, and Kimberly L. Hunter
Noise is a common problem in animal communication. We know little, however, about how animals communicate in the presence of noise using multimodal signals. Multimodal signals are hypothesised to be favoured by evolution because they increase the efficacy of detection and discrimination in noisy environments. We tested the hypothesis that female túngara frogs’ responses to attractive male advertisement calls are improved in noise when a visual signal component is ...
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - January 12, 2021 Category: Biology Authors: Taylor, R. C., Wilhite, K. O., Ludovici, R. J., Mitchell, K. M., Halfwerk, W., Page, R. A., Ryan, M. J., Hunter, K. L. Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Climate change and invasive species: a physiological performance comparison of invasive and endemic bees in Fiji [RESEARCH ARTICLE]
Carmen R. B. da Silva, Julian E. Beaman, James B. Dorey, Sarah J. Barker, Nicholas C. Congedi, Matt C. Elmer, Stephen Galvin, Marika Tuiwawa, Mark I. Stevens, Lesley A. Alton, Michael P. Schwarz, and Vanessa Kellermann
Anthropogenic climate change and invasive species are two of the greatest threats to biodiversity, affecting the survival, fitness and distribution of many species around the globe. Invasive species are often expected to have broad thermal tolerance, be highly plastic, or have high adaptive potential when faced with novel environments. Tropical island ectotherms are expected to be vulnerable to climate chan...
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - January 12, 2021 Category: Biology Authors: da Silva, C. R. B., Beaman, J. E., Dorey, J. B., Barker, S. J., Congedi, N. C., Elmer, M. C., Galvin, S., Tuiwawa, M., Stevens, M. I., Alton, L. A., Schwarz, M. P., Kellermann, V. Tags: Ecophysiology: responses to environmental stressors and change RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Blood as fuel: the metabolic cost of pedestrian locomotion in Rhodnius prolixus [RESEARCH ARTICLE]
Miguel Leis and Claudio R. Lazzari
Active searching for vertebrate blood is a necessary activity for haematophagous insects, and it can be assumed that this search should also be costly in terms of energetic expenditure. Whether by swimming, walking, running or flying, active movement requires energy, increasing metabolic rate relative to resting situations. We analysed the respiratory pattern and energetic cost of pedestrian locomotion in the blood-sucking bug Rhodnius prolixus using flow-through respirometry, by measuring carbon dioxide emission and water loss before, during and after walking. We observed an increase in...
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - January 12, 2021 Category: Biology Authors: Leis, M., Lazzari, C. R. Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
Ocean Acidification Alters Properties of the Exoskeleton in Adult Tanner Crabs, Chionoecetes bairdi [RESEARCH ARTICLE]
Gary H. Dickinson, Shai Bejerano, Trina Salvador, Christine Makdisi, Shrey Patel, W. Christopher Long, Katherine M. Swiney, Robert J. Foy, Brittan V. Steffel, Kathryn E. Smith, and Richard B. Aronson Ocean acidification can affect the ability of calcifying organisms to build and maintain mineralized tissue. In decapod crustaceans, the exoskeleton is a multilayered structure composed of chitin, protein, and mineral, predominately magnesian calcite or amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC). We investigated the effects of acidification on the exoskeleton of mature (post-terminal-molt) female southern Tanner crabs, Chionoecetes bai...
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - January 12, 2021 Category: Biology Authors: Dickinson, G. H., Bejerano, S., Salvador, T., Makdisi, C., Patel, S., Long, W. C., Swiney, K. M., Foy, R. J., Steffel, B. V., Smith, K. E., Aronson, R. B. Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research
