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Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Zoology & animal sciences > Animal physiology
Originally published in 1991, this book reviews the various metabolic and functional mechanisms that animals possess in order to live successfully in their own particular, often unique, environments. The book's purpose is to demonstrate both the diversity of responses that are shown (be they biochemical, physiological or behavioural) and to demonstrate the underlying principles of gas exchange and transport for a wide range of diverse organisms. What results is a useful review and analysis of our modern understanding of the respiratory physiology of helminths, crustacea, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. The approach taken by the editors is essentially comparative and the individual authors were chosen so as to provide a useful, complementary view of the subject.
This book gives a concise account of the physiology and form of the fish circulatory system. The emphasis is primarily on function, but details of structure have been included. Following a revision of ideas on hemodynamics, attention is focused on the heart as the primary pump in the fish circulatory system. The fine structure and the electrical and ionic events of cardiac myocytes are described and the major events of the cardiac cycle are outlined. The structure of the peripheral vessels then follow and attention is devoted to the circulation in certain special areas such as the gills, the renal portal system, and the secondary blood system. There are also chapters devoted to the blood and the hemopoetic tissues and an account is given of the different types of retial systems that concentrate oxygen or heat in various parts of the body. Following a description of the autonomic nervous system, the circulatory responses to exercise and hypoxia are described. The book concludes with a discussion on the circulation of hagfish and how it illuminates our understanding of the functional and structural evolution of the circulatory system.
This volume provides a thought-provoking, interdisciplinary perspective on the empirical and analytic study of body composition and the techniques used for measuring body components, such as fat, water, muscle, and bone mass and density. The nature of regional differences, developmental changes, pathological abnormalities, and the impact of heredity and environment in shaping body composition are discussed in the context of human evolution. For instance, the author looks at how growth, aging, and exposure to heat, cold, excess or lack of nourishment modify normal body composition.
Comprising well over half of all known animal species, insects are the most successful organisms on the planet. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that one cannot study agriculture, biology, and the environment, without a basic understanding of entomology. Furthermore, insects are indispensable to advances in molecular biology and genetics, and their ongoing decline in many parts of the world has stimulated much research in the crucial roles they play in global ecosystems. However, the sheer diversity of insects can be a challenge to every newcomer to entomology. Most entomology textbooks tend to focus on insect biology, leaving readers with only a superficial idea of insect diversity and evolution, while others delve into too much detail that will deter the novice. In contrast, Essential Entomology has a clear taxonomic structure that provides readers with the necessary framework to understand the diversity, life history, and taxonomy of insects in a new light. This fully revised edition provides the most up-to-date guide to insects and includes all the major developments in molecular biology and palaeontology of the last 20 years. This textbook is an essential read for undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in entomology, agriculture, and forestry. It will also appeal to a broad academic audience of ecologists, conservationists, natural resource managers, as well as to the far more numerous general readers who are interested in wildlife, nature, and the environment. With these diverse audiences in mind, the straightforward and accessible style of the first edition has been maintained, technical jargon has been kept to a minimum, and sufficient background information is provided to enable the reader to follow the text with ease.
Morphogeny of the nasal skull was investigated in 92 embryos of 13 species of Cetacea. Compared to the original nasal capsule of land mammals, the nasal structures of Cetacea show many weighty transformations. As a result, the nostrils are translocated from the tip of the snout to the vertex of the head. Several structures of the embryonic nasal skull remain preserved even in adult cetaceans. The translocation of the nostrils to the highest point of the surfacing body is among the most perfect adaptations of cetaceans to the aquatic life habits. The morphogeny of the nasal skull suggests that all cetaceans are of common origin and form a single monophyletic order. The hitherto usual division of this order into two suborders, Mysticeti and Odontoceti, appears to be unsubstantiated. Rather, at least three closely related superfamilies should be distinguished within the order Cetacea, viz., Balaenopteroidea, Physeteroidea, and Delphinoidea. The results are in a
1.1 Overview The precise knowledge of the three-dimensional (3-D) assembly of biological structures is still in its origin. As an example, a widely accepted concept and common belief of the structure of the airway network oflung is that of a regular, dichotomous branching pattern, also known as the trumpet model. This model, first introduced by Weibel in 1963, is often used in clinical and physiological applications. However, if this concept of dichotomy is used to model lung, a shape is obtained that is quite different from a real lung. As a matter of fact, many previous quantitative morphological and stereological investigations of lung did not concentrate on the spatial aspect of lung morphology but delivered data in a more statistical fashion. Accordingly, the functional behavior predicted by such a model becomes questionable and indeed, the morphometrically predicted lung capacity exceeds the physiological required capacity by a factor of 1.3 up to a factor of2. This problem has also been termed a paradox, as discussed by Weibel in 1983. In the rare cases where descriptive models of the mammalian bronchial tree exist, monopodial in small mammals, dichotomous in larger ones, the understanding of the historical and/or functional reasons for size-related changes in the general design is not explainable. This investigation is trying to overcome this gap by computer modeling and functional simulation.
Covering the psychological aspects of ergonomics, this volume places considerable emphasis on the radical changes in work practices over the past twenty years stimulated by high technology systems and computerization. Ergonomics is a multidisciplinary activity concerned mainly with people at work, but also with other human purposeful activities such as war, sports, games and leisure. The objective of ergonomics is to make these activities more effective and safer by applying established principles of anatomy, physiology and psychology. Together with Singleton's earlier volume, The Body at Work, this book forms a comprehensive textbook of ergonomics. This is a useful text for undergraduate and graduate students of psychology, physiology, management, social sciences, engineering, industrial design, computer science and information technology.
Only five years ago, nobody in his right mind would have consid ered publishing a book on reeler as a model for brain develop ment. Although this interesting mutation has been with us for half a century, it is fair to say that, in spite of a wave of enthusiasm in the late sixties and early seventies, generated primarily by Sidman, Caviness and colleagues, studies of reeler mice fell pro gressively out of fashion during the next two decades. All that changed almost overnight when the cloning of the reeler gene, dubbed reelin, was reported in Tom Curran's laboratory in 1995. The fact that the same gene was identified at the same time independently by two other groups using positional cloning sug gested strongly that reelin was the right candidate. Although the key experiments of transgenic rescue have not been made (and perhaps will never be), the equation "reeler is reelin" has been established beyond reasonable doubt, as alterations of the reelin gene and/or its expression have been found in at least five alleles of reeler and in the mutation Shaking Rat Kawasaki (SRK), an ortholog of reeler."
Due to their pronounced intraspecific variability and to difficulties in defining their evolutionary trends in mammalian phylogenies, peripheral blood vessels have been neglected in comparative studies. Supported by the Sonderforschungsbereich 89 (Car- diology) of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, we have reconstructed the ontoge- of the blood vessels of the tree shrew, Tupaia belangeri, on the netic morphogenesis basis of a series of developmental stages. The arteries of the lower extremity are described and discussed here. Besides describing the morphogenesis of the arteries in Tupaia, it is the aim of this study to explain the variability of the arteries of the pelvic extremity among mammals, and especially among primates including man, on the basis of a common developmen- tal pattern. This can be shown in the following example. In the popliteal region of most adult mammals the arteria poplitea profunda is situated under the musculus popliteus. In the adult Tupaia, as well as in primates, this artery is missing but, superficial to the musculus popliteus, an arteria poplitea super- ficialis exists. It seems difficult to explain such a case of "discontinuous evolution," because it is hard to imagine the position of the artery should have shifted through the muscle. The present investigation and the literature show that early in the embryonic development of a primate, man, and of Tupaia, both the arteria poplitea profunda and the arteria poplitea superficialis are present.
Cell culture techniques allow a variety of molecular and cell biological questions to be addressed, offering physiological conditions whilst avoiding the use of laboratory animals. In addition to basic techniques, a wide range of specialised practical protocols covering the following areas are included: cell proliferation and death, in-vitro models for cell differentiation, in-vitro models for toxicology and pharmacology, industrial application of animal cell culture, genetic manipulation and analysis of human and animal cells in culture.
During pubertal development of the testes, germ cells pass initially through the complete succession of spermatogenic differentiation. Using the golden hamster as a model, this volume presents a comprehensive analysis of that establishing period of mammalian spermatogenesis. Detailed morphological and cell kinetic data of the pubertal seminiferous epithelium reveal a level of cellular organization and synchronization coming near to the adult situation. Characteristic, temporarily occurring perturbations of spermatogenic progression are related to specific delays of Sertoli or Leydig cell maturation, respectively. These results emphasize and specify the close structural and functional interdependence of germ and somatic cell development.
Glomerular flltration represents one of the basic mechanisms in the function of an organism. Our understanding of this process is still quite fragmentary. Regulation of blood flow and pressure, together with regulation of the ultraflltration coefficient (which is an attribute of the flltration barrier), are the two fundamental mechanisms accounting for maintenance and adaptability of glomerular flltration. Regulation of glomerular blood flow is generally considered to result from an interplay between afferent and efferent glomerular arterioles, and much progress has been made recently in understanding this interplay (Navar et al. 1996). The present study provides a detailed structural description of the glomerular vascular pole of rat. The results of this study appear to be relevant for several open questions of glomerular function. First, the interaction between afferent and efferent arterioles in regulating glomerular blood is generally understood to occur between the preglomerular and the postglomerular portions of these vessels. As shown in the present study, the structural elaborations of these arterioles and the spatial relationships between them within the glomerular hilum strongly suggest an interplay also at this site. Moreover, the current understanding of glomerular blood flow regulation by tuning the interplay between afferent and efferent arterioles is exclusively based on signals whose regulatory loops are established in follow-up events outside the glomerulus (tubuloglomerular balance, tubuloglomerular feedback).
According to Jones and Smith (1973) the potential adverse effect of maternal alcoholism on the development of the offspring has been referred to in early Greek and Roman mythology. In a Carthaginian ritual, the bridal couple was forbidden to drink wine on their wedding night in order that defective children might not be conceived (Haggard and Jellinek 1942). Also, according to lones and Smith (1973,1975), the British House of Commons indicated in 1834, in a report by a select committee investigating drunk enness, that infants born to alcoholic mothers sometimes had a starved, shrivelled and imperfect look. According to Librizzi (1982) the first documented observations appeared in 1849 with the publication of the essay by Carpenter entitled "The Use and Abuse of Alcoholic Liquors in Health and Disease." He stated that habitual intemperance is the most potent of all causes of insanity because it aggravates the operation in other causes. Sullivan (1990) recorded increased abortion and stillbirth rates among chronically al coholic mothers in a Liverpool prison and an increased incidence of epilepsy in their surviving offspring. Various investigators including Ladraque (1901), Roe (1944). Le comte (1950), Christiaens et al. (1960) and Lemoine et al. (1967) have since then reported increased incidence of abnormalities and decreased weight of surviving children born to chronic alcoholic mothers."
In this, our second edition of Reproduction in Mammals, we are responding to numerous requests for a more up-to-date and rather more detailed treatment of the subject. The first edition was accorded an excellent reception, but Books 1 to 5 were written some 14 years ago and inevitably there have been many advances on many fronts since then. As before, the manner of presentation is intended to make the subject matter interesting to read and readily comprehensible to undergraduates in the biological sciences, and yet with sufficient depth to provide a valued source of information to graduates engaged in both teaching and research. Our authors have been selected from among the best known in their respective fields. Book 5 is concerned with the many ways in which we can now manipulate reproductive processes in animals and humans, thanks to our new understanding of hormone action and improved control over early developmental events. We have at our disposal a whole array of synthetic hormone agonists, antagonists and antibodies that can be used at will to stimulate or inhibit fertility in animals and humans alike, so that productivity in livestock can be promoted according to plan and child-bearing becomes more a matter of choice than chance. We can compensate for infertility by in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer, and overcome inherent deficiencies by techniques involving embryo manipulation. Existing barriers to the dissemination and application of this new-found knowledge are discussed in some detail, since it is becoming increasingly clear that improvements in the quality of life for people in many developing countries will be long delayed unless they can meet essential needs and call a halt to runaway population growth.
1. 1 Purpose and Plan of This Review This review is focused on the topography and connections of some of the neuron populations that determine the manual dexterity of the macaque monkey. The populations selected for examination are the following: 1. The corticospinal neuron populations 2. The thalamocortical and corticothalamic neuron populations associated with the sensorimotor cortex 3. The ipsilateral cortical connections of the sensorimotor cortex These neuron populations have been chosen because of their obvious rel evance to the directed, intelligent use of the hands, but also because of their anatomical and functional interdependence. Corticospinal neuron populations transmit a complex, orchestrated output from a number of different regions of cerebral cortex to the neuron populations in every segment of the spinal cord, and this output includes the command information defining the intended manual action. The thalamocortical complex is especially concerned with the transmis sion and modulation or filtering of (a) visual, tactile, proprioceptive, vestibular, and auditory information to the cerebral cortex and (b) information from the cerebellum, basal ganglia, limbic system, and brain stem which is relevant to sensorimotor behavior. Finally, the extensive ipsilateral cortical connections constitute a major part of the supraspinal circuitry which coordinates the contri butions of all the cortical neuron popUlations contributing to intelligent sen sorimotor behavior and, in particular, transmits the cross talk between those cortical neuron populations which shape and control the dextrous handling of objects within reach.
It is generally recognized that larger animals eat more, live longer, have larger offspring, and so on; but it is unusual to see these commonplace observations as a basis for scientific biology. A large number of empirically based relationships describe biological rates as simple functions of body size; and other such relations predict the intrinsic rate of population growth, animal speed, animal density, territory size, prey size, physiology, and morphology. Such equations almost always exist for mammals and birds, often for other vertebrates and invertebrates, sometimes for protozoa, algae, and bacteria, and occasionally even for plants. There are too many organisms to measure all aspects of the biology of every species of population, so scientists must depend on generalizations. Body size relations represent our most extensive and powerful assemblage of generalizations, but they have never been organized for use in ecology. This book represents the largest single compilation of interspecific size relations, and instructs the reader on the use of these relationships; their comparison, combination, and criticism. Both strengths and weaknesses of our current knowledge are discussed in order to indicate the many possible directions for further research. This important volume will therefore provide a point of departure toward a new applied ecology, giving quantitative solutions to real questions. It will interest advanced students of ecology and comparative physiology as well as professional biologists.
Widespread across open lands and cities of Europe, Africa, and Asia, the common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) is one of the most abundant and studied birds of prey. This book brings together and synthesises the results of research on kestrels for professional ornithologists and scientists that seek to consolidate a vast body of literature. It is also a reference for those readers who may not have the depth of scientific knowledge to navigate new fields of scientific enquiry. It examines many aspects of the species' biology, from the reproductive strategies to the behavioural and demographic adaptations to changes of environmental conditions. It also discusses the roles of physiology and immunology in mediating the adaptability of kestrels to the ongoing environmental changes with a particular focus on contaminants. This volume presents new and exciting avenues of research on the ecology and behaviour of the common kestrel.
Why write another small book on respiratory physiology? I have a dozen or so texts on my bookshelf that could already be used interchangeably to teach the subject. For profit, I might as well buy lottery tickets. Not that my publisher is ungenerous, you understand, it's just that the market is not that big and there are many contenders for a share. No, I write from the idealistic standpoint that I think I have something different to say, some thing that is importantly different about how gas exchange works and with an approach that is different from other authors. With few changes, basically the same text or chapters on respiratory physiology have been written, by different authors, for decades. One could almost interchange the tables of contents of most of them. Most seem to have copied the figures and concepts used by the others. Few have done more than accept and perpetu ate the conventional wisdom. In this text, I have attempted to start from fundamental principles of biology, chemistry, and physics and ask at each step, "Does it make sense?" The mechanisms and structures of gas exchange exist because, scientifically and logically, they "can't not be" as they are. The nature of our environment and the capabilities ofliving tissue are such that only certain opportunities have been available to the evolution of gas exchange."
The book shows that cell membranes vary according to the 24h cycle: it deals with circadian changes in membrane composition, principally the plasma membrane and with structural organization changes in some chloroplast thylakoids. The book deals with changes in activity or efficiency of pumps, channels, photo- and hormone receptors, in sensitivity towards external signals, in sensitivity to some drugs, including anaesthetics and in changes in signal transduction. The cell cycle is discussed on theoretical and experimental grounds, as well as its gating by circadian rhythmicity. The rhythm generating mechanism is modelized. The circadian oscillation of the plasma membrane confers a temporal parameter.
In this, our second edition of Reproduction in Mammals, we are responding to numerous requests for a more up-to-date and rather more detailed treatment of the subject. The first edition was accorded an excellent reception, but the Books 1 to 5 were written twelve years ago and inevitably there have been advances on many fronts since then. As before, the manner of presentation is intended to make the subject matter interesting to read and readily comprehensible to undergraduates in the biological sciences, and yet have sufficient depth to provide a valued source of information to graduates engaged in both teaching and research. Our authors have been selected from among the best known in their respective fields. Book 4 pays particular attention to genetic, environmental, behavioural and immunological mechanisms that can contribute to an animal's overall reproductive fitness, through which natural selection must ultimately operate.
1. 1 Objectives of this Study The vertebrate middle ear has attracted the interest of morphologists for more than a century. Its difficult structure, its complicated evolutionary derivation, and its integration of branchial, cranial, and otic materials into a single func- tional unit have made it a key organ for the understanding of vertebrate structures and their evolutionary history. Gaupp's (1898, 1913) and Reichert's (1837) comparative morphological studies of the vertebrate middle ear repre- sented milestones for anatomy in the general recognition and acceptance of Darwin's theory of evolution. These fundamental studies notwithstanding, today's knowledge of avian middle ear structures is still characterized by descriptive studies focusing on character sampling to elucidate high-level phylogeny. Phylogenetic studies have considered either structural aspects of the bony stapes exclusively (Feduccia 1974, 1975a,b, 1976, 1977, 1978), or focused on the anatomy of the middle ear cavity, neglecting the sound trans- mission apparatus (Saiff 1974, 1976, 1978a,b, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1988). Other studies have investigated late-stage embryos and concentrated on the develop- ment of the skull, considering middle ear structures only as a side aspect. However, there are considerable structural differences between the middle ears of late-stage embryos, hatchlings, and adults of the same species. Although vertebrate morphology requires a meticulous knowledge of comparative middle ear data and calls upon an elaborate system of homologies, it turns out that knowledge of middle ear structural details is widely dispersed among different species and different developmental stages, making a comparison even more difficult.
Reveals how the physical laws of nature control the physiological functions of all animals and influence their size. Shows why the size of living things is of such fundamental importance.
This up-to-the-minute Second Edition of an incomparable resource describes in detail the bases for developing dosage forms for use in animals-highlighting the data necessary to meet regulatory approval. Demonstrates the successful characterization, control, and registration of new veterinary medicines! Thoroughly rewritten and enlarged to reflect the technical advances that have occurred since the previous edition, Development and Formulation of Veterinary Dosage Forms, Second Edition discusses the reasons for dosage form selection explains the latest available technologies examines new drug therapeutics reveals up-to-date techniques and applications for pharmacokinetic data covers the formulation of products derived from biotechnology elucidates recent analytical methods shows how to determine the type of dosage form appropriate for particular species and more! Written by a team of international authorities from North America and Europe and containing over 1100 bibliographic citation, figures, and tables, Development and Formulation of Veterinary Dosage Forms, Second Edition is an essential reference for pharmaceutical, animal, and quality control scientists; research pharmacists and pharmacologists; veterinarians; drug quality assurance and regulatory personnel in government and industry; pathologists; microbiologists; virologists; physiologists; toxicologists; and upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in these disciplines.
In this, our Second Edition of Reproduction in Mammals, we are responding to numerous requests for a more up-to-date and rather more detailed treatment of the subject. The First Edition was accorded an excellent reception, but the first five books were written ten years ago and inevitably there have been advances on many fronts since then. As before, the manner of presentation is intended to make the subject matter interesting to read and readily comprehensible to undergraduates in the biological sciences, and yet with sufficient depth to provide a valued source of information to graduates engaged in both teaching and research. Our authors have been selected from among the best known in their respective fields. This volume discusses the manifold ways in which hormones control the reproductive processes in male and female mammals. The hypothalamus regulates both the anterior and posterior pituitary glands, whilst the pineal can exert a modulating influence on the hypothalamus. The pituitary gonadotrophins regulate the endocrine and gametogenic activities of the gonads, and there are important local feedback effects of hormones within the gonads themselves. Non-pregnant females display many different types of oestrous or menstrual cycles, and there are likewise great species differences in the endocrinology of pregnancy. But the hallmark of mammals is lactation, and this also exerts a major control on subsequent reproductive activity.
How do bats catch insects in the dark? How do bees learn which flowers to visit? How do food-storing birds remember where their hoards are? Questions like these are addressed by neuroethology, the branch of behavioral neuroscience concerned with analyzing the neural bases of naturally occurring behaviors.This book brings together thirteen chapters presenting findings on perceptual and cognitive processes in some of the most active areas of neuroethological research, including auditory localization by bats and owls, song perception and learning in birds, pitch processing by frogs and toads, imprinting in birds, spatial memory in birds, learning in bees and in "Aplysia, " and electroreception in fish. A variety of approaches are represented, such as field studies, psychophysical tests, electrophysiological experiments, lesion studies, comparative neuroanatomy, and studies of development.Each chapter gives an up-to-date overview of a particular author's research and places it within the broader context of issues about animal perception and cognition. The book as a whole exemplifies how studying species and their particular specializations can inform general issues in psychology, ethology, and neuroscience. |
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