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Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Zoology & animal sciences > Vertebrates > Mammals
Muntjac and water deer were introduced to Britain from East Asia. This book provides a comprehensive overview of their natural history and the management of their environmental impacts. In lowland England, muntjac deer are one of the drivers of changes in woodland structure and species composition, and many of the principles relating to such woodland impact are also applicable to the activities of other species of deer. Interest in environmental impacts of deer is not solely restricted to woodlands. The highest densities of water deer occur in wetlands, where there is potential for conflict, and considerable numbers are also found on agricultural land. Muntjac have also settled in suburbia and frequently cause impacts there. Conservationists and national decision makers are concerned both about invasive alien species and about increasing deer populations. The first section covers the natural history of both species including: breeding biology, deer in the field, colonisation of Britain, a detailed look at colonisation in a single county, methods for studying deer populations and a review of deer population numbers. The second section covers environmental impact: risk assessment, impact management, control of muntjac, effect of muntjac browsing and grazing, habitat recovery from muntjac impacts and a study on the impacts of water deer. The section concludes with an overview of management and monitoring. The costs and benefits of both species are discussed, and questions asked about whether we are getting on top of problems caused by muntjac (locally and nationally) and will water deer turn out to be similar to muntjac? Attitudes and approaches to these species are changing: with water deer we are actively studying whether it might be an environmental problem, not waiting until after it has obviously become one. What will happen to distribution, numbers, impacts and attitudes in the future? Will water deer ever become a suburban animal? What does the future hold for water deer in China and Korea - and how important is the English population as a global conservation resource?
Much has been written about dolphins and whales, and excellent
books exist especially on the charismatic bottlenose dolphins; and
killer, humpback, and sperm whales. But detailed studies have been
carried out on a handful of other species, and this book summarizes
our state of knowledge of a little dolphin the southern hemisphere
dusky, and compares its behavioral strategies in different
environs. The editors, Bernd and Mel Wursig, began studying duskies
in Patagonia Argentina in 1972. Although they have been to many
parts of the Earth since then -- including work on Amazon and
Yangtze river dolphins, Hawai i for the delicate lovely spinner
dolphin, the Arctic for bowhead and gray whale work, and bottlenose
dolphins in several milieus -- they have always returned to their
first love of unraveling the social patterns and life strategies of
duskies that exist in small groups in semi-enclosed bays and as
herds of well over one thousand in the open ocean. This book
documents the latest research, from their feeding patterns to their
acrobatic skills. It is full of scientific facts, with a sense of
poetry and wonder of the unknown.
'We have a responsibility, every one of us' David Attenborough Around 12.7 million tonnes of plastic are entering the ocean every year, killing over 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals. By 2050 there could be more plastic in the ocean than fish by weight. But how can YOU make a difference? This accessible guide will help you make the small changes that make a big difference, including: * Using a wash bag to catch plastic microfibers * Replacing your regular shampoo with bar shampoo * How to throw a plastic-free birthday party Plastic is not going away without a fight. This is a call to arms - to join forces across the world and end our dependence on plastic. #BreakFreeFromPlastic
Analysing the physiological adaptations of marine mammals and seabirds, this book provides a comprehensive overview of what allows these species to overcome the challenges of diving to depth on a single breath of air. Through comparative reviews of texts on diving physiology and behaviour from the last seventy-five years, Ponganis combines this research into one succinct volume. Investigating the diving performance of marine mammals and seabirds, this book illustrates how physiological processes to extreme hypoxia and pressure are relevant to the advancement of our understanding of basic cellular processes and human pathologies. This book underscores the biomedical and ecological relevance of the anatomical, physiological and molecular/biophysical adaptations of these animals to enable further research in this area. An important resource for students and researchers, this text not only provides an essential overview of recent research in the field, but will stimulate further research into the behaviour and physiology of diving.
With heart-shaped face, buff back and wings, and pure white underparts, the barn owl is a distinctive and much-loved bird which has fascinated people from many cultures throughout history. How did the barn owl colonise the world? What adaptations have made this bird so successful? How is the increasing impact of human disturbance affecting these animals? Answering these questions and more, Roulin brings together the main global perspectives on the evolution, ecology and behaviour of the barn owl and its relatives, discussing topics such as the high reproductive potential, physiology, social and family interaction, pronounced colour variation and global distribution. Accessible and beautifully illustrated, this definitive volume on the barn owl is for researchers, professionals and graduate students in ornithology, animal behaviour, ecology, conservation biology and evolutionary biology, and will also appeal to amateur ornithologists and nature lovers.
Despite an astonishing 100 million-fold range in adult body mass from bumblebee bat to blue whale, all mammals are formed of the same kinds of molecules, cells, tissues and organs and to the same overall body plan. A scaling approach investigates the principles of mammal design by examining the ways in which mammals of diverse size and taxonomy are quantitatively comparable. This book presents an extensive reanalysis of scaling data collected over a quarter of a century, including many rarely or never-cited sources. The result is an unparalleled contribution to understanding scaling in mammals, addressing a uniquely extensive range of mammal attributes and using substantially larger and more rigorously screened samples than in any prior works. An invaluable resource for all those interested in the 'design' of mammals, this is an ideal resource for postgraduates and researchers in a range of fields from comparative physiology to ecology.
This is the companion volume to Daniel Klionsky s "Autophagy: Lower
Eukaryotes, " which features the basic methods in autophagy
covering yeasts and alternative fungi (aspergillus, podospora,
magnaporthe). Klionsky is one of the leading authorities in the
field. He is the editor-in-chief of "Autophagy." The November 2007
issue of "Nature Reviews" highlighted his article, Autophagy: From
phenomenology to molecular understanding in less than a decade. He
is currently editing guidelines for the field, with 230
contributing authors, that will publish in "Autophagy."
This book represents the results of a comprehensive study of the
ecological processes of the central Yellowstone ecosystem carried
out over the past 15 years by an integrated team of scientists and
graduate students. It provides an authoritative work on the
mechanisms underlying the spatial and temporal dynamics of large
mammal predator-prey systems in natural ecosystems, and is directed
to the scientific community, resource managers, policy makers and
the interested public alike.
Cilia--the tiny hairlike structures on the surface of cells--have recently been identified as playing a role in a variety of disease and developmental disorders. Absent or defective cilia in certain cells can cause infertility, blindness, kidney disease, and lung disease. This volume presents recent findings in cilia research and current thought on the role of cilia in disease and developmental abnormalities.
Many hundreds of thousands suffer spinal cord injuries leading to
loss of sensation and motor function in the body below the point of
injury. Spinal cord research has made some significant strides
towards new treatment methods, and is a focus of many laboratories
worldwide. In addition, research on the involvement of the spinal
cord in pain and the abilities of nervous tissue in the spine to
regenerate has increasingly been on the forefront of biomedical
research in the past years. The Spinal Cord, a collaboration with
the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, is the first
comprehensive book on the anatomy of the mammalian spinal cord.
Tens of thousands of articles and dozens of books are published on
this subject each year, and a great deal of experimental work has
been carried out on the rat spinal cord. Despite this, there is no
comprehensive and authoritative atlas of the mammalian spinal cord.
Almost all of the fine details of spinal cord anatomy must be
searched for in journal articles on particular subjects. This book
addresses this need by providing both a comprehensive reference on
the mammalian spinal cord and a comparative atlas of both rat and
mouse spinal cords in one convenient source. The book provides a
descriptive survey of the details of mammalian spinal cord anatomy,
focusing on the rat with many illustrations from the leading
experts in the field and atlases of the rat and the mouse spinal
cord. The rat and mouse spinal cord atlas chapters include
photographs of Nissl stained transverse sections from each of the
spinal cord segments (obtained from a single unfixed spinal cord),
detailed diagrams of each of the spinal cord segments pictured,
delineating the laminaeof Rexed and all other significant neuronal
groupings at each level and photographs of additional sections
displaying markers such as acetylcholinesterase (AChE), calbindin,
calretinin, choline acetlytransferase, neurofilament protein (SMI
32), enkephalin, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), and
neuronal nuclear protein (NeuN).
What can the study of young monkeys and apes tell us about the minds of young humans? In this fascinating introduction to the study of primate minds, Juan Carlos Gomez identifies evolutionary resemblances--and differences--between human children and other primates. He argues that primate minds are best understood not as fixed collections of specialized cognitive capacities, but more dynamically, as a range of abilities that can surpass their original adaptations. In a lively overview of a distinguished body of cognitive developmental research among nonhuman primates, Gomez looks at knowledge of the physical world, causal reasoning (including the chimpanzee-like errors that human children make), and the contentious subjects of ape language, theory of mind, and imitation. Attempts to teach language to chimpanzees, as well as studies of the quality of some primate vocal communication in the wild, make a powerful case that primates have a natural capacity for relatively sophisticated communication, and considerable power to learn when humans teach them. Gomez concludes that for all cognitive psychology's interest in perception, information-processing, and reasoning, some essential functions of mental life are based on ideas that cannot be explicitly articulated. Nonhuman and human primates alike rely on implicit knowledge. Studying nonhuman primates helps us to understand this perplexing aspect of all primate minds.
The heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful story of an abandoned polar bear cub named Nora and the humans working tirelessly to save her and her species, whose uncertain future in the accelerating climate crisis is closely tied to our own. Six days after giving birth, a polar bear named Aurora got up and left her den at the Columbus Zoo, leaving her tiny, squealing cub to fend for herself. Hours later, Aurora still hadn't returned. The cub was furless and blind, and with her temperature dropping dangerously, the zookeepers entrusted with her care felt they had no choice: They would have to raise one of the most dangerous predators in the world themselves, by hand. Over the next few weeks, a group of veterinarians and zookeepers would work around the clock to save the cub, whom they called Nora. Humans rarely get as close to a polar bear as Nora's keepers got with their fuzzy charge. But the two species have long been intertwined. Three decades before Nora's birth, her father, Nanuq, was orphaned when an Inupiat hunter killed his mother, leaving Nanuq to be sent to a zoo. That hunter, Gene Agnaboogok, now faces some of the same threats as the wild bears near his Alaskan village of Wales, on the westernmost tip of the North American continent. As sea ice diminishes and temperatures creep up year-after-year, Gene and the polar bears--and everyone and everything else living in the far north--are being forced to adapt. Not all of them will succeed. Sweeping and tender, The Loneliest Polar Bear explores the fraught relationship humans have with the natural world, the exploitative and sinister causes of the environmental mess we find ourselves in, and how the fate of polar bears is not theirs alone.
Normative Biology, Husbandry, and Models, the third volume in the four volume set, The Mouse in Biomedical Research, encompasses 23 chapters whose contents provide a broad overview on the laboratory mouse's normative biology, husbandry, and its use as a model in biomedical research. This consists of chapters on behavior, physiology, reproductive physiology, anatomy, endocrinology, hematology, and clinical chemistry. Other chapters cover management, as well as nutrition, gnotobiotics and disease surveillance. There are also individual chapters describing the mouse as a model for the study of aging, eye research, neurodegenerative diseases, convulsive disorders, diabetes, and cardiovascular and skin diseases. Chapters on imaging techniques and the use of the mouse in assays of biological products are also included.
Current dominant thinking and practice in the private and public sectors asserts that peoples' development needs are in conflict with, or mutually exclusive to, the need to conserve the biosphere on which we depend. Consequently, we are asked to either diminish development in the name of conservation or diminish conservation in the name of development. Efforts to identify complementary objectives, or mutually acceptable trade-offs and compromises indicate, however, that this does not always have to be the case. This first volume in the State of the Apes series draws attention to the evolving context within which great ape and gibbon habitats are increasingly interfacing with extractive industries. Intended for a broad range of policy makers, industry experts, decision makers, academics, researchers and NGOs, these publications aim to influence debate, practice and policy, seeking to reconcile ape conservation and welfare, and economic and social development, through objective and rigorous analysis.
In the songs and bubble feeding of humpback whales; in young killer whales learning to knock a seal from an ice floe in the same way their mother does; and in the use of sea sponges by the dolphins of Shark Bay, Australia, to protect their beaks while foraging for fish, we find clear examples of the transmission of information among cetaceans. Just as human cultures pass on languages and turns of phrase, tastes in food (and in how it is acquired), and modes of dress, could whales and dolphins have developed a culture of their very own? Unequivocally: yes. In The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins, cetacean biologists Hal Whitehead, who has spent much of his life on the ocean trying to understand whales, and Luke Rendell, whose research focuses on the evolution of social learning, open an astounding porthole onto the fascinating culture beneath the waves. As Whitehead and Rendell show, cetacean culture and its transmission are shaped by a blend of adaptations, innate sociality, and the unique environment in which whales and dolphins live: a watery world in which a hundred-and-fifty-ton blue whale can move with utter grace, and where the vertical expanse is as vital, and almost as vast, as the horizontal. Drawing on their own research as well as a scientific literature as immense as the sea--including evolutionary biology, animal behavior, ecology, anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience--Whitehead and Rendell dive into realms both humbling and enlightening as they seek to define what cetacean culture is, why it exists, and what it means for the future of whales and dolphins. And, ultimately, what it means for our future, as well.
Atlas of Terrestrial Mammal Limbs is the first comprehensive and detailed anatomy book on a broad phylogenetic and ecological range of mammals. This extraordinary new work features more than 400 photographs and illustrations visualizing the limb musculature of 28 different species. Standardized views of the dissected bodies and concise text descriptions make it easy to compare the anatomy across different taxa. It provides tables of nomenclature and comparative muscle maps (schematic drawings on the origins and insertions of the muscles onto bones) in a diversity of animals. Atlas of Terrestrial Mammal Limbs is a reliable reference and an indispensable volume for all students and professional researchers in biology, paleontology, and veterinary medicine. Key Features: Provides an overview of the anatomy of the mammalian limb Includes osteological correlates of the limb muscles Illustrates anatomy in 2D Guides dissection Documents anatomical diversity in mammalian limbs Related Titles: D. L. France. Human and Nonhuman Bone Identification: A Color Atlas. (ISBN 978-1-4200-6286-1) S. N. Byers. Forensic Anthropology Laboratory Manual, 4th Edition (ISBN 978-1-1386-9073-8) S. N. Byers. Introduction to Forensic Anthropology, 5th Edition (ISBN 978-1-1381-8884-6) R. Diogo, et al. Muscles of Chordates: Development, Homologies, and Evolution (ISBN 978-1-1385-7116-7)
The Safari Companion has become a Chelsea Green best seller and paved the way for the company's entry into the exciting world of eco-travel. Here's a new edition, revised and expanded, of the definitive guide to watching the behavior or African mammals. New chapters include: The Safari Companion is an indispensible tool for safari travelers to Africa or zoo-lovers anywhere. It will help expert and neophyte better understand the lives and interactions of the animals they observe. Richared D. Estes has led wildlife-viewing safaris in Africa for many years, and is one of the world's foremost experts on the social ecology of African mammals. Dr. Estes is an Associate Professor of Mammalogy at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University and the chairman of the World Conservation Union's Antelope Specialists' Group. He lives in Peterborough, New Hampshire.
Examining mating from the male perspective, this book provides an overview of mammalian reproduction to illustrate the important role that male desire plays in the life of mammals. Written in a conversational style that will appeal to those without specialist knowledge of the field, it begins with a broad overview of sexual reproduction in mammals, explaining the importance of mixing genes, sexual selection and the concept of mating seasons. Subsequent chapters examine some of the most important aspects in detail including mating behaviour, the structure and function of the male organs of reproduction and their physiological control and modes of copulation. A final chapter considers human reproduction, explaining how our physical and social evolution have contributed to the development of sexual behaviour that is markedly different to that of other mammals, due in particular to the absence of oestrus and seasonality in the human female.
This seminal work chronicles George B. Schaller's two years of travel and observation of gorillas in East and Central Africa in the late 1950s, high in the Virunga volcanoes on the Zaire-Rwanda-Uganda border. There, he learned that these majestic animals, far from being the aggressive apes of film and fiction, form close-knit societies of caring mothers and protective fathers watching over playful young. Alongside his observations of gorilla society, Schaller celebrates the enforced yet splendid solitude of the naturalist, recounts the adventures he experienced along the way, and offers a warning against poaching and other human threats against these endangered creatures. This edition features a postscript detailing Schaller's more recent visits with gorillas, current to 2009. "Whether the author is tracking gorillas, slipping past elephant herds on narrow jungle paths, avoiding poachers' deadfalls, or routing Watusi invaders, this is an exciting book. Although Schaller feels that this is 'not an adventure book, ' few readers will be able to agree."--Irven DeVore, "Science"
Building on the success of the first edition and bringing together contributions from a range of experts in the field, the second edition of this guide to research on wild primates covers the latest advances in the field, including new information on field experiments and measuring behaviour. It provides essential information and advice on the technical and practical aspects of both field and laboratory methods, covering topics such as ethnoprimatology; remote sensing; GPS and radio-tracking; trapping and handling; dietary ecology; and non-invasive genetics and endocrinology. This integrated approach opens up new opportunities to study the behavioural ecology of some of the most endangered primates and to collect information on previously studied populations. Chapters include methodological techniques; instructions on collecting, processing and preserving samples/data for later analysis; ethical considerations; comparative costs; and further reading, making this an invaluable tool for postgraduate students and researchers in primatology, behavioural ecology and zoology.
This detailed 1983 study of the African buffalo is distinguished by the extraordinary first-hand data obtained by the author in ten years of study. During this time, Dr Mloszewski virtually lived with the herds, moving among the animals and becoming accepted by them as a companion in their wanderings. The result is a book written from a highly unusual viewpoint and containing unique data. The book discusses the ancestry, zoological classification, and biogeographical setting of the African buffalo and describes the interactions of buffaloes with other species. The individual and collective behavior of the buffalo in the wild, as directly observed by the author, is the central subject, covering herd movements, feeding activities, hierarchies and individuals and agnostic, reproductive and other behaviors.
This volume is the second in the planned coverage of the
neurochemical circuitry of the primate central nervous system.
While this volume contains only two chapters, their topics and the
extraordinarily comprehensive coverage with which the authors have
dealt with their topics, will nevertheless contribute equal amounts
of knowledge, wisdom, and opportunities for future research
extensions as have every volume in this unique series. As such,
these chapters extend the goals of this primate series to develop a
broad coverage of human and non-human primate chemical
neuroanatomic details in a volume which makes clear the known and
desirable appreciation for differences between and among subsets of
primate brains.
Despite its remote and seemingly rigorous environment, the Antarctic is the world's most important habitat for seals, currently supporting more seals than all other parts of the world combined. As various national Antarctic programmes were established to study these animals, the need to standardize techniques became apparent. This book, arising from work by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (Group of Specialists on Seals), gives a detailed account of well-tried and, where possible, agreed methodologies, techniques, procedures and rationale for the collection and initial analysis of data on the biology and population ecology of Antarctic seals. This volume will not only help facilitate comparisons between different regions of Antarctica, but will also provide a guide for those studying seals in other parts of the world and those carrying out research on other large mammal species. |
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