Patricia A Wright, Michaela J P Handel, Craig E Franklin
{"title":"2024: Reflections on a year of supporting and promoting our early-career researchers.","authors":"Patricia A Wright, Michaela J P Handel, Craig E Franklin","doi":"10.1242/jeb.250180","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.250180","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":"228 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143046997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nir El, Mathilde H Christjansen, Ellie C Smallwood, Megan E LaHay, Samuel P McGaw, Claire M Pabody, Tyson J MacCormack
{"title":"Taurine efflux counters the hydrodynamic impact of anaerobic metabolism to protect cardiorespiratory function under acute thermal stress in brook char (Salvelinus fontinalis).","authors":"Nir El, Mathilde H Christjansen, Ellie C Smallwood, Megan E LaHay, Samuel P McGaw, Claire M Pabody, Tyson J MacCormack","doi":"10.1242/jeb.249418","DOIUrl":"10.1242/jeb.249418","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Upper thermal tolerance may be limited by convective oxygen transport in fish, but the mechanisms constraining heart function remain elusive. The activation of anaerobic metabolism imposes an osmotic stress on cardiomyocytes at high temperatures that must be countered to prevent swelling and cardiac dysfunction. We tested the hypothesis that cardiac taurine efflux is required to counter the osmotic impact of anaerobic end product accumulation in brook char, Salvelinus fontinalis. Fish were fed a diet enriched in β-alanine, a competitive inhibitor of the taurine transporter, to induce taurine deficiency and inhibit transporter function. In vivo, stroke volume increased by 60% and cardiac output doubled in control fish during a 2°C h-1 thermal ramp. Stroke volume was temperature insensitive in taurine-deficient (TD) fish, so cardiac output was 30% lower at high temperatures. The thermal sensitivity of aerobic metabolism did not differ, and lactate accumulated to a similar degree in the two diet treatment groups, indicating that taurine deficiency does not impact energy metabolism. Heart taurine efflux was absent and ventricular muscle osmolality was 40 mOsmol kg-1 higher in TD brook char following thermal stress. Swelling and decreased ventricular compliance likely impair diastolic filling to constrain stroke volume in TD fish. The adrenaline sensitivity of cardiac contractility and the regulation of intracellular pH in the brain and liver were also impacted in TD brook char. Taurine efflux appears necessary to counteract the hydrodynamic impact of activating anaerobic metabolism and this process may limit heart function under acute thermal stress.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142818275","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brett M Culbert, Emma Mossington, Stephen D McCormick, Nicholas J Bernier
{"title":"Regulation and function of the gill corticotropin-releasing factor system during osmoregulatory disturbances in Atlantic salmon.","authors":"Brett M Culbert, Emma Mossington, Stephen D McCormick, Nicholas J Bernier","doi":"10.1242/jeb.248168","DOIUrl":"10.1242/jeb.248168","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>While corticosteroids, including cortisol, have conserved osmoregulatory functions, the relative involvement of other stress-related hormones in osmoregulatory processes remains unclear. To address this gap, we initially characterized the gill corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) system of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and then determined: (1) how it is influenced by osmotic disturbances; (2) whether it is affected by cortisol; and (3) which physiological processes it regulates in the gills. Most CRF system components were expressed in the gills, with CRF receptor 2 (crfr2a), CRF binding protein (crfbp1 and crfbp2) and urocortin 2 (ucn2a) being the most abundant. The development of seawater tolerance in migratory juveniles (i.e. smolts) was associated with a general transcriptional upregulation of CRF ligands, but transcript levels of crfr2a, crfbp2, crfb2 and ucn2a decreased by ∼50% following seawater transfer. Accordingly, transfer of seawater-acclimated fish into freshwater increased crfr2a and ucn2a levels. Cortisol treatment of cultured gill filaments had marked effects on the CRF system; however, these effects failed to fully replicate changes observed during in vivo experiments, suggesting direct contributions of the gill CRF system during osmotic disturbances. Indeed, activation of the CRF system in cultured filaments from freshwater-acclimated (but not seawater-acclimated) salmon had transcriptional effects on several physiological systems (e.g. endothelial permeability, angiogenesis and immune regulation) which involved contributions by both CRF receptor subtypes. Overall, our results indicate that the gill CRF system is more active in hypoosmotic environments and directly contributes to the coordination of physiological responses following osmotic disturbances.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142846760","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Coming home: how visually navigating ants (Myrmecia spp.) pinpoint their nest.","authors":"Jochen Zeil","doi":"10.1242/jeb.249499","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.249499","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Visually navigating Myrmecia foragers approach their nest from distances up to 25 m along well-directed paths, even from locations they have never been before ( Narendra et al., 2013). However, close to the nest, they often spend some time pinpointing the nest entrance, sometimes missing it by centimetres. Here, I investigated what guides homing ants in their attempt to pinpoint the nest entrance. As the ants approach the nest, their behaviour changes. At approximately 1 m from the nest, the ants slow down, their scanning amplitude becomes larger and their path direction changes more frequently. This change in scanning behaviour is not triggered by local olfactory, tactile or visual cues because ants tethered on a trackball 30-50 cm above ground also exhibit it at 0.6 m compared with 1.6 m distance from the nest. Moreover, the ants are able to pinpoint the nest when such local cues are removed by covering the ground around the nest or the nest entrance itself. Myrmecia ants thus rely on information from the global panorama when pinpointing the nest. During learning walks, these ants appear to systematically collect views directed toward and away from the nest ( Jayatilaka et al., 2018). Homing ants indeed change gaze and body axis direction appropriately with a delay when encountering views to the left or to the right of the nest. However, image analysis shows that close to the nest, opponent views with the same orientation become too similar, explaining the growing uncertainty reflected in the ants' increased scanning behaviour during homing.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":"228 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143046998","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Acoustics of rubbing feathers: the velvet of owl feathers reduces frictional noise.","authors":"Lori G Liu, Christopher J Clark","doi":"10.1242/jeb.246234","DOIUrl":"10.1242/jeb.246234","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>One feather structure associated with an owl's ability to fly quietly is the soft dorsal surface on their flight feathers: the velvet. This velvet is a mat of elongated filamentous pennulums that extend up from feather barbules. The aerodynamic noise hypothesis posits this velvet reduces aerodynamic noise caused by the formation of turbulence, while the structural noise hypothesis posits the velvet acts as a dry lubricant, reducing frictional noise produced by feathers sliding past one another. We investigated the structural noise hypothesis by quantifying the length of the velvet on 24 locations across the wing of the barred owl (Strix varia) and then qualitatively assessing the presence of velvet in 24 bird species. We found that velvet has evolved at least 4 times independently (convergently) in owls, nightbirds, hawks and falcons. Then, we rubbed 96 pairs of feathers together from 17 bird species (including the four clades that have independently evolved velvet) under three experimental treatments: control, hairspray applied (to impair the velvet) and hairspray removed. The sound of feathers rubbing against each other was broadband, similar to the sound of rubbing sandpaper or Velcro. Species with velvet produced rubbing sounds that were 20.9 dB quieter than species without velvet, and velvet-coated feathers became 7.4 dB louder when manipulated with hairspray, while feathers lacking velvet only increased in loudness by 1.7 dB, relative to the control treatments. These results all support the hypothesis that the velvet primarily functions to ameliorate the sounds of feathers rubbing against other feathers.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142818267","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Does the unusual phenomenon of sustained force circumvent the speed-endurance trade-off in the jaw muscle of the southern alligator lizard (Elgaria multicarinata)?","authors":"Allyn Nguyen, Kyle Leong, Natalie C Holt","doi":"10.1242/jeb.247979","DOIUrl":"10.1242/jeb.247979","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The jaw muscles of the southern alligator lizard, Elgaria multicarinata, are used in prolonged mate-holding behavior, and also to catch fast prey. In both males and females, these muscles exhibit an unusual type of high endurance known as sustained force in which contractile force does not return to baseline between subsequent contractions. This phenomenon is assumed to facilitate the prolonged mate-holding observed in this species. Skeletal muscle is often subject to a speed-endurance trade-off. Here, we determined the isometric twitch, tetanic and isotonic force-velocity properties of the jaw muscles at ∼24°C as metrics of contractile speed and compared these properties with a more typical thigh locomotory muscle to determine whether endurance by sustained force allows for circumvention of the speed-endurance trade-off. The specialized jaw muscle was generally slower than the more typical thigh muscle: time to peak twitch force, twitch 90% relaxation time (P<0.01), and tetanic 90% and 50% relaxation times (P<0.001) were significantly longer, and force-velocity properties were significantly slower (P<0.001) in the jaw than the thigh muscle. However, there seemed to be greater effects on relaxation rates and shortening velocity than on force rise times: there was no effect of muscle on time to peak, or 50% of tetanic force. Hence, the jaw muscle of the southern alligator lizard does not seem to circumvent the speed-endurance trade-off. However, the maintenance of force rise times despite slow relaxation, potentially enabled by the presence of hybrid fibers, may allow this muscle to meet the functional demand of prey capture.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142846745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alexander M Shephard, Sydney Jacobsen, Cristina C Ledón-Rettig
{"title":"Diet-induced plasticity modifies relationships between larval growth rate and post-metamorphic behavior and physiology in spadefoot toads.","authors":"Alexander M Shephard, Sydney Jacobsen, Cristina C Ledón-Rettig","doi":"10.1242/jeb.249299","DOIUrl":"10.1242/jeb.249299","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>It has frequently been hypothesized that among-individual variation in behavior and physiology will correlate with life history traits, yet the nature of these correlations can vary. Such variability may arise from plasticity in trait development, which can amplify or attenuate trait correlations across different environments. Using the Mexican spadefoot toad (Spea multiplicata), we tested whether relationships between larval growth rate and post-metamorphic behavior or physiology are influenced by a key mediator of developmental plasticity: larval diet type. Spea multiplicata larvae develop on two alternative diets, with slower growing omnivores feeding on detritus and faster growing carnivores consuming live fairy shrimp. We found that correlations between larval growth rate and post-metamorphic behavior and physiology differed by diet type. Among detritus feeders, faster growing larvae developed into juvenile frogs that were not only bolder but also had higher hypothalamic-pituitary-interrenal axis reactivity (an indicator of stress responsiveness) and longer telomeres, suggesting greater somatic maintenance. In contrast, among shrimp feeders - which exhibited faster growth overall - larval growth rate was less strongly correlated with juvenile behavior and physiology, indicating that a shift from omnivory to carnivory can attenuate trait correlations among individuals. Overall, our study suggests that developmental plasticity induced by different diet types can modify relationships between life history traits and individual behavior or physiology.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142854208","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jonathon H Stillman, Adrienne B Amri, Joe M Holdreith, Alexis Hooper, Rafael V Leon, Liliana R Pruett, Buck M Bukaty
{"title":"Ecophysiological responses to heat waves in the marine intertidal zone.","authors":"Jonathon H Stillman, Adrienne B Amri, Joe M Holdreith, Alexis Hooper, Rafael V Leon, Liliana R Pruett, Buck M Bukaty","doi":"10.1242/jeb.246503","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.246503","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>One notable consequence of climate change is an increase in the frequency, scale and severity of heat waves. Heat waves in terrestrial habitats (atmospheric heat waves, AHW) and marine habitats (marine heat waves, MHW) have received considerable attention as environmental forces that impact organisms, populations and whole ecosystems. Only one ecosystem, the intertidal zone, experiences both MHWs and AHWs. In this Review, we outline the range of responses that intertidal zone organisms exhibit in response to heat waves. We begin by examining the drivers of thermal maxima in intertidal zone ecosystems. We develop a simple model of intertidal zone daily maximum temperatures based on publicly available tide and solar radiation models, and compare it with logged, under-rock temperature data at an intertidal site. We then summarize experimental and ecological studies of how intertidal zone ecosystems and organisms respond to heat waves across dimensions of biotic response. Additional attention is paid to the impacts of extreme heat on cellular physiology, including oxidative stress responses to thermally induced mitochondrial overdrive and dysfunction. We examine the energetic consequences of these mechanisms and how they shift organismal traits, including growth, reproduction and immune function. We conclude by considering important future directions for improving studies of the impacts of heat waves on intertidal zone organisms.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":"228 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143006536","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lucy Rebecca Davies, Torsten N Kristensen, Jesper G Sørensen, Volker Loeschcke, Mads F Schou
{"title":"Nutritional stress in larvae induces adaptive responses that transcend generations in males of a model insect.","authors":"Lucy Rebecca Davies, Torsten N Kristensen, Jesper G Sørensen, Volker Loeschcke, Mads F Schou","doi":"10.1242/jeb.247972","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.247972","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The ability of organisms to cope with poor quality nutrition is essential for their persistence. For species with a short generation time, the nutritional environments can transcend generations, making it beneficial for adults to prime their offspring to particular diets. However, our understanding of adaptive generational responses, including those to diet quality, are still very limited. Here, we used the vinegar fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to investigate whether females developing as larvae on a nutritionally poor diet produce offspring that are primed for nutrient deficiencies in the following generations. We found that females developed on low-quality diets produced offspring that, on similarly low-quality diets, had both increased egg-to-adult viability and starvation tolerance compared with offspring of females experiencing a nutrient-rich diet. When testing the persistence of such generational priming, we found that just one generation of high-quality diet is sufficient to erase the signal of priming. A global transcriptomic profile analysis on male offspring suggests that the observed phenotypic priming is not a constitutive transcriptomic adjustment of adults; instead, offspring are probably primed as larvae, enabling them to initiate an adaptive response as adults when exposed to low-quality diets. Our results support that generational priming is an important adaptive mechanism that enables organisms to cope with transient nutritional fluctuations.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":"228 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143006538","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sandra Götze, Carl J Reddin, Isabel Ketelsen, Michael Busack, Gisela Lannig, Christian Bock, Hans-O Pörtner
{"title":"Cardiac performance mirrors the passive thermal tolerance range in the oyster Ostrea edulis.","authors":"Sandra Götze, Carl J Reddin, Isabel Ketelsen, Michael Busack, Gisela Lannig, Christian Bock, Hans-O Pörtner","doi":"10.1242/jeb.249750","DOIUrl":"10.1242/jeb.249750","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Increasing frequencies of heatwaves threaten marine ectotherm species but not all alike. In exposed habitats, some species rely on a higher capacity for passive tolerance at higher temperatures, thereby extending time-dependent survival limits. Here, we assessed how the involvement of the cardiovascular system in extended tolerance at the margins of the thermal performance curve is dependent on warming rate. We studied organismal and heart tissue cellular responses of the European oyster, Ostrea edulis, challenged by rapid warming (+2°C per hour) and gradual warming (+2°C per 24 h). Starting at 22°C, cardiac activity was monitored as temperature was increased, tracking cardiac performance curves. Hearts were collected at discrete temperatures to determine cardiomyocyte metabolic profiles. Heart rate peaked at a lower Arrhenius breakpoint temperatures (ABT) of 30.5°C under rapid warming versus 33.9°C under gradual warming. However, oysters survived to higher temperatures under rapid than under gradual warming, with half of oysters dying (LT50) by 36.9°C versus 34.8°C, respectively. As rapid warming passed 30°C, heart rate fell and cardiomyocyte metabolic profiles suddenly changed as oysters switched to anaerobic metabolism for survival. By 36°C, severe fluctuations in Krebs cycle-related metabolites accompanied cardiac failure. In contrast, oysters exposed to gradual warming made gradual, extensive adjustments to intracellular metabolic pathways, prolonging aerobic cardiomyocyte metabolism to higher temperatures. This extended survival duration and ABT, beyond which cardiac activity decreased sharply and ceased. Our results emphasize how the rate of warming forces a trade-off between temperature maxima and survival duration, via tissue- and cellular-level impacts. European oysters possess adaptations that enable extended tolerance and survival of intertidal populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":15786,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Biology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142882233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}