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Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Zoology & animal sciences > Invertebrates > General
The measurement of metabolic rates is central to important questions in many areas of physiological research. Unfortunately these measurements are anything but straightforward, with numerous pitfalls awaiting both the novice and even the experienced investigator. The original edition of this work, published in 2008, quickly became the principle "how to" manual for the field. It successfully de-mystified the topic, explaining every common variation of metabolic rate measurement. Background information on different analyzer and equipment types allowed users to choose the best instruments for their application. Respirometry equations, normally a topic of terror and confusion to researchers, were derived and described in sufficient detail to facilitate their selection and use. In this new edition, the content has been thoroughly updated and a decade of new literature incorporated. New chapters on room calorimetry, human metabolic measurement, and metabolic phenotyping have also been added. Measuring Metabolic Rates is aimed at experimental biologists, physiologists, and any professional scientist involved with metabolic measurement. This practical handbook will also be of relevance and use to graduate students.
Invertebrates perform such vital roles in global ecosystems and so strongly influence human wellbeing that biologist E.O. Wilson was prompted to describe them as little things that run the world. As they are such powerful shapers of the world around us, their response to global climate change is also pivotal in meeting myriad challenges looming on the horizon everything from food security and biodiversity to human disease control. This book presents a comprehensive overview of the latest scientific knowledge and contemporary theory relating to global climate change and terrestrial invertebrates. Featuring contributions from top international experts, this book explores how changes to invertebrate populations will affect human decision making processes across a number of crucial issues, including agriculture, disease control, conservation planning, and resource allocation. Topics covered include methodologies and approaches to predict invertebrate responses, outcomes for disease vectors and ecosystem service providers, underlying mechanisms for community level responses to global climate change, evolutionary consequences and likely effects on interactions among organisms, and many more. Timely and thought-provoking, Global Climate Change and Terrestrial Invertebrates offers illuminating insights into the profound influence the simplest of organisms may have on the very future of our fragile world.
The Reef Guide documents some 800 reef fishes and invertebrates found along the east and south coasts of southern Africa. Following on the success of Dennis King’s earlier two titles, this impressive new guide features 578 species of fish and includes sections on anemones, starfish, snails, crabs and shrimps. Full-colour photographs and descriptive text for each species, along with useful and interesting information, make for easy identification. While focusing on southern Africa, the book is also applicable to the entire east coast of Africa, as well as the islands of the western Indian Ocean – Seychelles, Mauritius, Reunion, Madagascar, the Comoros and the Maldives. Indispensable for divers, snorkelers and rock-pool enthusiasts, as well as fishermen and marine aquarists.
The major objective of this book is to highlight the significance of phytonematodes in horticulture. Detailed and latest information on major aspects of phytonematodes associated exclusively with horticultural crops, which is the need of the day, is lacking. Hence, the book has been written mainly with the objective of providing its readers, comprehensive information on the advanced aspects related to phytonematodes associated with horticultural crops. It also provides basic information on plant parasitic nematodes since it is required for a better understanding of advanced topics. Several popular topics, information on which is already available in plenty, have been avoided. Thus, book explicates both the essential fundamental and advanced aspects pertaining to nematodes associated with horticultural crops. The book is conveniently divided into 13 chapters, which cover latest information on the major fundamental and advanced aspects related to phytonematodes including the role of phytonematodes in horticultural industry, phylogenetic and evolutionary concepts in nematodes, major phytonematodes associated with horticultural crops and their diagnostic keys, symptoms caused by phytonematodes and disease diagnosis, nematode population threshold levels, crop loss assessment, nematode diseases of horticultural crops and their management, nematode disease complexes, genetics of nematode parasitism, important nematological techniques and nematodes of quarantine importance. An exclusive chapter on novel methods of nematode management has been included mainly to provide the information on the latest molecules and novel modes of managing nematodes attacking horticultural crops. Routine nematode management aspects, information on which is already available, have not been discussed; instead, this topic reflects the changing scenario of future nematode management. Hence, this book can serve as a friendly guide to meet the requirements of the students, teachers and researchers interested in these ‘hidden enemies’ of the grower, apart from the research and extension personnel working under Public organizations, officials of State departments of Horticulture, Forestry, field workers and all those concerned and working with plant parasitic nematodes. Appropriate diagrams, convincing tables and suitable graphs/illustrations have been furnished at right places. A complete bibliography has also been included.
Three major aspects that distinguish this book are that (1) it contains the most detailed analysis of the sexual reproduction (oogenesis, fertilization and embryonic incubation) in a particular phylum of the aquatic invertebrates (Bryozoa) ever made; this analysis is based on an exhaustive review of the literature on that topic published over the last 260 years, as well as extensive original histological, anatomical and morphological data obtained during studies of both extant and extinct species; (2) this broad analysis has made it possible to reconstruct the major patterns, stages and trends in the evolution of sexual reproduction in various bryozoan clades, showing numerous examples of parallelisms during transitions from broadcasting to embryonic incubation, from planktotrophic to non-feeding larvae and from lecithotrophy to placentation; corresponding shifts in oogenesis, fertilization and embryonic development are discussed in detail; and (3) the key evolutionary novelties acquired by Bryozoa are compared with similar innovations that have evolved in other groups of marine invertebrates, showing the general trends in the evolution of their sexual reproduction. Ecological background of these innovations is considered too. Altogether these aspects make the monograph an “Encyclopedia of bryozoan sexual reproduction,†offering an integral picture of the evolution of this complex phenomenon.
This volume provides a comprehensive selection of recent studies addressing insect hearing and acoustic communication. The variety of signalling behaviours and hearing organs makes insects highly suitable animals for exploring and analysing signal generation and hearing in the context of neural processing, ecology, evolution and genetics. Across a variety of hearing species like moths, crickets, bush-crickets, grasshoppers, cicadas and flies, the leading researchers in the field cover recent scientific progress and address key points in current research, such as: - How can we approach the evolution of hearing in insects and what is the developmental and neural origin of the auditory organs? - How are hearing and sound production embedded in the natural lifestyle of the animals, allowing intraspecific communication but also predator avoidance and even predation? - What are the functional properties of hearing organs and how are they achieved at the molecular, biophysical and neural levels? - What are the neural mechanisms of central auditory processing and signal generation? The book is intended for students and researchers both inside and outside of the fascinating field of bioacoustics and aims to foster understanding of hearing and acoustic communication in insects.
Recent research has focused attention on the importance of intrinsic antiviral immunity, i.e. immunity mediated by factors that are constitutively expressed in many cells. In this volume, leading experts provide a comprehensive overview of this relatively new and rapidly evolving field. They cover intrinsic proteinaceous antiviral immune effectors, such as the APOBEC3 and TRIM protein families as well as Tetherin and SAMHD1, which were initially discovered by researchers studying HIV-1. Furthermore, the role of RNA interference in antiviral defense in plants and invertebrates, as well as the interplay between microRNAs and viruses in mammalian cells, are analysed. One chapter discusses how intrinsic immunity and viral countermeasures to intrinsic immune effectors drive both pathogen and host evolution, and finally the emerging evidence that DNA damage response proteins restrict infection by DNA viruses is highlighted.
Flying through the night, fireflies flicker their lights to find partners. These glowing fliers are adapted to life at night. Learn more about these blinky nocturnal animals in Fireflies.
This atlas contains 189 coloured images taken from transversal, horizontal and sagittal sections of eleven organisms widely used in university teaching. Six invertebrate and five vertebrate species – from the nematode worm (Ascaris suum) to mammals (Rattus norvegicus) – are shown in detailed images. Studying the macrosections with unaided eyes, with a simple magnifier or binocular microscope might be of great help to accomplish traditional anatomical studies and to establish a certain spatial experience/space perception. This volume will be of great interest for biology students, researchers and teachers of comparative anatomy. It might act as supporting material of practical courses. Furthermore, medical practitioners, agricultural specialists and researchers having an interest in comparative anatomy might also benefit from it.
Against the backdrop of the environmental setting of the subequatorial NE Pacific abyssal plain, the book will characterise the meiobenthos as an ecological category in the deep sea and introduce research lines meiobenthic studies are applied to, including environmental assessments of human-induced disturbance of the deep seafloor. It will proceed to present an overview of the current knowledge on the meiobenthos of the area of concern and will discuss general considerations regarding the use of meiobenthos as indicator of seafloor disturbance. It will address the question of deep-sea mineral resources development versus benthic communities and will present an overview of field studies ("experiments") aimed at assessing the magnitude of potential impact associated with seafloor resources development (polymetallic nodule mining in particular) in the Pacific.
The fIrst draft version of this book, written in systematics of Neoptera) had two different editions English and named "Draft revision of supraspecies in Russian - in 1999 and in 2000 (Kluge 2000). taxa of Ephemeroptera (without Atalophlebiinae)," English version of this fIrst volume is also prepared, was prepared as an Internet publication in 1998; but not published yet. thanks to Dr. Michael Hubbard (Florida A & M Uni versity), it has been available from the web site "Ephemeroptera Galactica" since 1998. The second NEW TERMS, TAXA NAMES AND version, written in Russian and named "Revision of SYNONYMS supra-species taxa of Ephemeroptera (except for Atalophlebialfgl)," was prepared as an Internet publication in 2000; from 2001 till now it has been New terms: plesiomorphon (instead of wrongly available from the web site of Biological Faculty of used "plesion," p. 16); basitornal margin, tornoapical S-Petersburg University, http: //www. bio. pu. ruJwinl margin, amphitornal margin of wing or wing bud entomollKLUGEIEPHEMER -"content_. htm. Both (p. 31); tergalius (instead of formerly used "tergalia" versions contain the systematics of all mayflies or "tergalium," p. 35); caudalius, tricaudale, basitri except for Atalophlebialfgl. The present Volume 1 caudale, cercotractor (p. 38). does not contain the systematics of Turbanoculata For some morphological terms type taxa are (i. e. Baetidae auct. ) nor of all Leptophlebialfg1 (i. e. designated. Till now this was not practised, but in Leptophlebiidae auct."
Tropical Forest Insect Pests, first published in 2007, promotes a better theoretical understanding of pest population dynamics, and causes of forest insect outbreaks in the tropics. Covering pests of both natural forests and plantations, it examines the diversity of tropical forest insects; their ecological functions; the concept of pests; and the incidence of pests in natural forests, plantations, and stored timber. General issues on which foresters and forest entomologists hold strong traditional views, such as the severity of pest incidence in plantations vs. natural forests, in plantations of exotics vs. indigenous tree species, and in monocultures vs. mixed plantations are discussed. The final section looks in detail at specific insect pests of the common plantation tree species across the tropics, with recommendations for their control. This is a comprehensive resource suitable for graduate students and researchers in forestry and tropical forest entomology, and for forest plantation managers in the tropics.
The purpose of this and future volumes of the Handbook of Genetics is to bring together a collection of relatively short, authoritative essays or annotated compilations of data on topics of significance to geneticists. Many of the essays will deal with various aspects of the biology of certain species selected because they are favorite subjects for genetic investigation in nature or the laboratory. Often there will be an encyclopedic amount of information available on such a species, with new papers appearing daily. Most of these will be written for specialists in a jargon that is be wildering to a novice, and sometimes even to a veteran geneticist working with evolutionarily distant organisms. For such readers what is needed is a written introduction to the morphology, life cycle, reproductive be havior, and culture methods for the species in question. What are its par ticular advantages (and disadvantages) for genetic study, and what have we learned from it? Where are the classic papers, the key bibliographies, and how does one get stocks of wild type or mutant strains? The chapters devoted to different species will contain information of this sort. Only a few hundreds of the millions of species available to biologists have been subjected to detailed genetic study. However, those that have make up a very heterogeneous sample of the living world."
Originally published in 1946, this is the eighth edition of a book that was first published in 1893. It deals, specifically, with the fossils of the Invertebrata. The general plan is to give, for each group, first, a short account of its general zoological features with a more detailed description of the hard parts of the animals; secondly, its classification and the characters of the important genera, with remarks on the affinities of some forms; and thirdly, a description of the present distribution, and the geological range. The account of each genus is followed by the enumeration of typical species, so as to guide the student in making use of a large collection. The numerous figures help to explain the structure and terminology. For a number of years, Woods' Palaeontology held its place as the standard work on the subject.
The prerequisite to investigating the underlying causes behind mass extinction is a profound understanding of the evolutionary history of both living and dead species. It is especially important to appreciate the significance of such studies in extinct organisms; especially in organisms that were abundant in a certain geologic era, but have subsequently dwindled or become extinct. Such studies should help to accurately evaluate patterns of evolution in extinct species lineages and help predict the same in its modern analogs. The book includescutting edge research in evolutionary biology that should serve as a starting point for conservation.
When this historically significant volume was first published in 1968, the detailed study of the Trematoda had been sadly neglected in Britain and zoologists interested in this group had been obliged to search for information in foreign periodicals, or to take what they could find in a few standard works and ordinary textbooks of zoology. Dawes' aim in this book was to make available in English, in a single volume, information that will enable students, teachers, and research workers of zoology in schools, colleges, and universities to identify the trematode parasites of representative animals from the European fauna, and also to provide a broader outline of the structure, modes of life, bionomics, and life histories of these animals that could be found in any one book published in any language.
Many modern geneticists attempt to elucidate the molecular basis of phenotype by utilizing a battery of techniques derived from physical chemistry on subcellular components isolated from various species of organisms. Volume 5 of the Handbook of Genetics provides explanations of the advantages and shortcomings of some of these revolutionary tech niques, and the nonspecialist is alerted to key research papers, reviews, and reference works. Much of the text deals with the structure and func tioning of the molecules bearing genetic information which reside in the nucleus and with the processing of this information by the ribosomes resid ing in the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells. The mitochondria, which also live in the cytoplasm of the cells of all eukaryotes, now appear to be separate little creatures. These, as Lynn Margulis pointed out in Volume 1, are the colonial posterity of migrant prokaryotes, probably primitive bacteria that swam into the ancestral precursors of all eukaryotic cells and remained as symbionts. They have maintained themselves and their ways ever since, replicating their own DNA and transcribing an RNA quite different from that of their hosts. In a similar manner, the chloroplasts in all plants are self-replicating organelles presumably derived from the blue-green algae, with their own nucleic acids and ribosomes. Four chapters are devoted to the nucleic acids and the ribosomal components of both classes of these semi-independent lodgers. Finally, data from various sources on genetic variants of enzymes are tabulated for ready reference, and an evaluation of this information is attempted."
The arthropods contain more species than any other animal group, but the evolutionary pathways which led to their current diversity are still an issue of controversy. Arthropod Relationships provides an overview of our current understanding, responding to the new data arising from sequencing DNA, the discovery of new Cambrian fossils as direct evidence of early arthropod history, and developmental genetics. These new areas of research have stimulated a reconsideration of classical morphology and embryology. Arthropod Relationships is the first synthesis of the current debate to emerge: not since the volume edited by Gupta was published in 1979 has the arthropod phylogeny debate been, considered in this depth and breadth. Leaders in the various branches of arthropod biology have contributed to this volume. Chapters focus progressively from the general issues to the specific problems involving particular groups, and thence to a consideration of embryology and genetics. This wide range of disciplines is drawn on to approach an understanding of arthropod relationships, and to provide the most timely account of arthropod phylogeny. This book should be read by evolutionary biologists, palaeontologists, developmental geneticists and invertebrate zoologists. It will have a special interest for post-graduate students working in these fields.
between the organ systems of cephalopods and those of less ambitious molluscs. Octopus does, as we would predict, live close to the limits set by its own physiology. The circulation, to take one example, is barely adequate for such an active animal, mainly because of the absence of any system for pack aging the blood pigment; haemocyanin in solution is a poor oxygen carrier. Cephalopod blood can transport less than 5 millilitres of oxygen per 100 ml of blood (compared with about 15 vol% in fish) and the whole supercharged system of triple hearts, high blood pressure and pulsating blood vessels succeeds only in returning blood that retains less than 30% of its dissolved oxygen by the time it reaches the gills. This at rest; the effect of exercise is immediate and surprisingly long lasting even in octopuses as small as 300 g, which must very swiftly run into oxygen debt when they flee from predators or pursue their prey (Sections 3.2.2, 3.2.4). Digestion, too would seem to be limiting. As with other molluscs, digestion in Octopus is based on secretion absorption cycles by a massive diverticulum of the gut, an adequate system in a less hectic past, but scarcely appropriate in a predator that must be an opportunist in the matter of feeding. Octopus feeds mainly at night, and spends a great deal of every day sitting at home.
Courses on the invertebrates have two principal aims: (1) to introduce students to the diversity of animal life and (2) to make them aware that organisms are marvellously integrated systems with evolutionary pasts and ecological presents. This text is concerned exclusively with the second aim and assumes that the reader will already know something about the diversity and classification of invertebrates. Concepts of whole-organism function, metabolism and adaptation form the core of the subject-matter and this is also considered in an ecological setting. Hence, the approach is multi-disciplinary, drawing from principles normally restricted to comparative morphology and physiology ,ecology and evolutionary biology. Invertebrate courses, as with all others in a science curriculum, also have another aim - to make students aware of the general methods of science. And these I take to be associated with the so-called hypothetico deductive programme. Here, therefore, I make a conscious effort to formulate simple, some might say naive, hypotheses and to confront them with quantitative data from the real world. There are, for example, as many graphs in the book as illustrations of animals. My aim, though, has not been to test out the principles of Darwinism, but rather to sharpen our focus on physiological adaptations, given the assumption that Darwinism is approximately correct. Whether or not I succeed remains for the reader to decide.
First published in 1928, this bibliography lists approximately 3,800 titles on the subject of sponges, spanning the period 1551-1913. Gualtherus Vosmaer was a prolific thinker in this field, and this book is the product of 29 years of intensive research. This near-exhaustive bibliography places little-known works alongside more established papers, a range which made it, on its publication, unique. As such, it is a brilliant resource for discovering lesser-known texts on this extensive subject, and a fascinating compilation of historical writing on Porifera, both living and fossilised. As its editor Bidder remarks, 'the biology of 100 years ago affords most delightful and charming reading' and here, in one volume, is a list of papers and books which afford exactly this pleasure. Vosmaer's bibliography gives the reader the opportunity to explore both past theories and discoveries, and to understand the scientific study of these fascinating sea creatures in its historical context.
This book is a collection of papers given by invited speakers at a Symposium on 'Feedback and Motor Control', held at the University of Glasgow from July 10th to 13th 1984, which was attended by over 200 scientists from 20 countries. The Symposium was the Fourth International Symposium organised by the Scottish Electrophysiological Society (SES), and on this occasion the SES joined forces with the Society for Experimental Biology (SEB), so that the Symposium was held dur ing the annual Summer Meeting of the SEB. A policy of the SES since its formation in 1970 has been to promote dialogue between scientists working on invertebrate and vertebrate nervous systems by hol
Earthworms, which belong to the order Oligochaeta, comprise roughly 3,000 species grouped into five families. Earthworms have been called 'ecosystem engineers'; much like human engineers, they change the structure of their environments. Earthworms are very versatile and are found in nearly all terrestrial ecosystems. They play an important role in forest and agricultural ecosystems. This Soil Biology volume describes the various facets of earthworms, such as their role in soil improvement, soil structure, and the biocontrol of soil-borne plant fungal diseases. Reviews discuss earthworms' innate immune system, molecular markers to address various issues of earthworm ecology, earthworm population dynamics, and the influences of organic farming systems and tillage. Further topics include the characteristics of vermicompost, relationships between soil earthworms and enzymes, the role of spermathecae, copulatory behavior, and adjustment of the donated sperm volume. |
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