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Books > Academic & Education > Professional & Technical > Zoology & Ecology
This book should be of value to anyone interested in bird evolution
and taxonomy, biogeography, distributional history, dispersal and
migration patterns. It provides an up-to-date synthesis of current
knowledge on species formation, and the factors influencing current
distribution patterns. It draws heavily on new information on Earth
history, including past glacial and other climatic changes, on new
developments in molecular biology and palaeontology, and on recent
studies of bird distribution and migration patterns, to produce a
coherent account of the factors that have influenced bird species
diversity and distribution patterns worldwide.
The need for ion and water homeostasis is common to all life.
For fish, ion and water homeostasis is an especially important
challenge because they live in direct contact with water and
because of the large variation in the salt content of natural
waters (varying by over 5 orders of magnitude). Most fish are
stenohaline and are unable to move between freshwater and seawater.
Remarkably, some fishes are capable of life in both freshwater and
seawater. These euryhaline fishes constitute an estimated 3 to 5%
of all fish species. Euryhaline fishes represent some of the most
iconic and interesting of all fish species, from salmon and
sturgeon that make epic migrations to intertidal mudskippers that
contend with daily salinity changes. With the advent of global
climate change and increasing sea levels, understanding the
environmental physiology of euryhaline species is critical for
environmental management and any mitigative measures. This volume
will provide the first integrative review of euryhalinity in fish.
There is no other book that focuses on fish that have the capacity
to move between freshwater and seawater. The different challenges
of salt and water balance in different habitats have led to
different physiological controls and regulation, which heretofore
has not been reviewed in a single volume. Provides the foundational information needed for researchers from a variety of fields, including fish physiology, conservation and evolutionary biology, genomics, ecology, ecotoxicology, and comparative physiologyAll authors are the leading researchers and emerging leaders in their fields
Rock iguanas of the West Indies are considered to be the most endangered group of lizards in the world. They are a flagship species in the Caribbean and on most islands are the largest native land animals. Unfortunately, human encroachment and introduced animals have brought this species to the brink of extinction. "Cyclura: Natural History, Husbandry, and Conservation of the West Indian Iguanas" is the first book to combine the natural history and captive husbandry of these remarkable reptiles, while at the same time outlining the problems researchers and conservationists are battling to save these beautiful, iconic animals of the Caribbean islands. Authors Jeffrey Lemm and Allison Alberts have been studying West
Indian iguanas for nearly 20 years in the wild and in captivity;
their experiences with wild iguanas and their exquisite photos of
these charismatic lizards in the wild make this book a must-have
for reptile researchers, academics and enthusiasts, as well as
anyone interested in nature and conservation.
This series of volumes represents a comprehensive and integrated
treatment of reproduction in vertebrates from fishes of all sorts
through mammals. It is designed to provide a readable, coordinated
description of reproductive basics in each group of vertebrates as
well as an introduction to the latest trends in reproductive
research and our understanding of reproductive events. Whereas each
chapter and each volume is intended to stand alone as a review of
that topic or vertebrate group, respectively, the volumes are
prepared so as to provide a thorough topical treatment across the
vertebrates. Terminology has been standardized across the volumes
to reduce confusion where multiple names exist in the literature,
and a comprehensive glossary of these terms and their alternative
names is provided.
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.
"INSTRUCTORS," interested in requesting a review copy?
In its third edition, this praised book demonstrates how the living
systems modeling of aquatic ecosystems for ecological, biological
and physiological research, and ecosystem restoration can produce
answers to very complex ecological questions. This book further
offers an understanding developed in 25 years of living ecosystem
modeling and discusses how this knowledge has produced methods of
efficiently solving many environmental problems. Public education
through this methodology is the additional key to the broader
ecosystem understanding necessary to allow human society to pass
through the next evolutionary bottleneck of our species. Living
systems modeling as a wide spectrum educational tool can provide a
primary vehicle for that essential step.
Much effort has been devoted to developing theories to explain the
wide variation we observe in reproductive allocation among
environments. Reproductive Allocation in Plants describes why
plants differ in the proportion of their resources that they
allocate to reproduction and looks into the various theories. This
book examines the ecological and evolutionary explanations for
variation in plant reproductive allocation from the perspective of
the underlying physiological mechanisms controlling reproduction
and growth. An international team of leading experts have prepared
chapters summarizing the current state of the field and offering
their views on the factors determining reproductive allocation in
plants. This will be a valuable resource for senior undergraduate
students, graduate students and researchers in ecology, plant
ecophysiology, and population biology.
The voices of birds have always been a source of fascination.
Nature's Music brings together some of the world's experts on
birdsong, to review the advances that have taken place in our
understanding of how and why birds sing, what their songs and calls
mean, and how they have evolved. All contributors have strived to
speak, not only to fellow experts, but also to the general reader.
The result is a book of readable science, richly illustrated with
recordings and pictures of the sounds of birds.
In this book there are entire chapters devoted to the most widely
used bird counting techniques, and attempts to amalgamate other
counting methodologies into major groups were made. Examples of the
use of methods are provided wherever possible and the relative
value of various approaches for answering specific questions is
also addressed.
This book meets the demand for a comprehensive introduction to
understanding the processes of population limitation. Recognized
world-wide as a respected biologist and communicator, Dr. Ian
Newton has now written a clear and detailed treatise on local scale
population limiting factors in birds. It is based almost entirely
on results from field studies, though it is set in a contemporary
theoretical framework. The 16 chapters fall under three major
section headings: Behavior and Density Regulation; Natural Limiting
Factors; and Human Impacts. Population Limitation in Birds serves
as a needed resource expanding on Dr. David Lacks research in this
area of ornithology in the 1950s. It includes numerous line
diagrams and beautiful illustrations by acclaimed wildlife artist
Keith Brockie.
Vertebrate evolution has led to the convergent appearance of many
groups of originally terrestrial animals that now live in the sea.
Among these groups are familiar mammals like whales, dolphins, and
seals. There are also reptilian lineages (like plesiosaurs,
ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs, thalattosaurs, and others) that have
become sea creatures. Most of these marine reptiles, often wrongly
called "dinosaurs," are extinct. This edited book is devoted to
these extinct groups of marine reptiles. These reptilian analogs
represent useful models of the myriad adaptations that permit
tetrapods to live in the ocean.
This unique book synthesizes the ongoing long-term community
ecology studies of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
The studies have been conducted from deserts to rainforests as well
as in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine habitats and provide
valuable insight that can be obtained only through persistent,
diligent, and year-after-year investigation.
Research of the past ten years has made it increasingly clear that
domestic animals and wild animals differ in their nutritional
requirements. Nutritional management, beneficial to domestic
animals, may actually be life-threatening to wild ones. This new
edition of Wildlife Feeding and Nutrition has been thoroughly
updated to reflect recent insights, especially with regard to
wildlife nutrition essential to successful management either in the
wild or in captivity.
This edited volume in the Theoretical Ecology series addresses the
historical development and evolution of theoretical ideas in the
field of ecology. Not only does it recount the history of the
discipline by practitioners of the science of ecology, it includes
commentary on these historical reflections by philosophers of
science. Even though the theories discussed are, in many cases, are
at the forefront of research, the language and approach make this
material accessible to non-theoreticians. The book is structured in
5 major sections including population ecology, epidemiology,
community ecology, evolutionary biology and ecosystem ecology. In
each section a chapter by an eminent, experienced ecologist is
complemented by analysis from a newer, cutting-edge researcher.
It is impossible to predict the exact behavior of all biological
systems and how these same systems are exemplified by patterns of
complexity and regularity. Decades of research in ecology have
documented how these sorts of patterns are the consequences of
deceptively simple rules that determine the nature of the patterns
created. Chaos in Ecology will explain how simple beginnings result
in complicated results.
First published in 1983, the second edition of this informative book remains the most comprehensive and current overview of the behavioral traits and adaptations of horses. The book integrates findings from hundreds of international researchers to provide the reader a factual synthesis of the behavior of domestic and feral horses. Building on the strengths of the first edition, the author has thoroughly updated coverage of horse ancestry, development, perception, learning, play, social behavior, behavioral manipulation, maintenance activities, and sexual behavior. In this second edition more emphasis has been given to animal husbandry and management. Additionally, the second edition includes an all-new section on ecological influences on activity patterns, habitat utilization, social behavior and reproduction. An expanded section on applied ethology provides behavioral considerations for management and insight regarding the behavioral indicators of horse health and well being. This is followed with an updated appendix listing behavioral symptoms and possible causes. The text contains numerous tables and nearly 100 illustrations and photos.
Seeds: Ecology, Biogeography, and Evolution of Dormancy and
Germination differs from all other books on seed germination. It is
an all-encompassing volume that provides a working hypothesis of
the ecological and environmental conditions under which various
kinds of seed dormancy have developed. It also presents information
on the seed germination of more than 3500 species of trees, shrubs,
vines and herbaceous species, making this a valuable reference for
anyone studying germination.
With the substantial advances in the miniaturization of electronic
components, wildlife biologists now routinely monitor the movements
of free-ranging animals with radio-tracking devices. This book
explicates the many analytical techniques and computer programs
available to extract biological information from the radio tracking
data.
This series of volumes represents a comprehensive and integrated
treatment of reproduction in vertebrates from fishes of all sorts
through mammals. It is designed to provide a readable, coordinated
description of reproductive basics in each group of vertebrates as
well as an introduction to the latest trends in reproductive
research and our understanding of reproductive events. Whereas each
chapter and each volume is intended to stand alone as a review of
that topic or vertebrate group, respectively, the volumes are
prepared so as to provide a thorough topical treatment across the
vertebrates. Terminology has been standardized across the volumes
to reduce confusion where multiple names exist in the literature,
and a comprehensive glossary of these terms and their alternative
names is provided.
The great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, is a marquee predator made famous by movie and myth. This text brings together the real evidence of both ecology and behaviour of these animals. This international team of separates fact from fiction and establishes a baseline from which additional research of great white sharks and sharks in general might proceed. The chapters are divided into sections on the geographic distribution, evolutionary history, behaviour with particular emphasis on the predatory relationship to seals and sea lions, movements and abundance of the species, and its interactions with man. Many of the scientific contributions resulted from the 1993 symposium in Bodega Bay, California, that attracted more than 80 specialists from around the world.
This series of volumes represents a comprehensive and integrated
treatment of reproduction in vertebrates from fishes of all sorts
through mammals. It is designed to provide a readable, coordinated
description of reproductive basics in each group of vertebrates as
well as an introduction to the latest trends in reproductive
research and our understanding of reproductive events. Whereas each
chapter and each volume is intended to stand alone as a review of
that topic or vertebrate group, respectively, the volumes are
prepared so as to provide a thorough topical treatment across the
vertebrates. Terminology has been standardized across the volumes
to reduce confusion where multiple names exist in the literature,
and a comprehensive glossary of these terms and their alternative
names is provided.
This series of volumes represents a comprehensive and integrated
treatment of reproduction in vertebrates from fishes of all sorts
through mammals. It is designed to provide a readable, coordinated
description of reproductive basics in each group of vertebrates as
well as an introduction to the latest trends in reproductive
research and our understanding of reproductive events. Whereas each
chapter and each volume is intended to stand alone as a review of
that topic or vertebrate group, respectively, the volumes are
prepared so as to provide a thorough topical treatment across the
vertebrates. Terminology has been standardized across the volumes
to reduce confusion where multiple names exist in the literature,
and a comprehensive glossary of these terms and their alternative
names is provided.
The second edition of "Tigers of the World" explores tiger
biology, ecology, conservation, management, and the science and
technology that make this possible. In 1988, when the first edition
was published, tiger conservation was still in its infancy, and two
decades later there has been a revolution not only in what is
known, but how information about tigers is obtained and
disseminated. In the fast changing world of conservation, there is
a great need to summarize the vast and current state-of-the-art, to
put this into historical perspective, and to speculate in what yet
remains to be done. "Tigers of the World, 2e" fulfills this need by
bringing together in a unique way the world s leading tiger experts
into one volume. Despite the challenges ahead, there are bright
spots in this story and lessons aplenty not only for tiger
specialists but large carnivore specialists, conservation
biologists, wildlife managers, natural resource policymakers, and
most importantly the caring public. *Examines the past twenty years of research from the world s leading tiger expertson biology, politics, and conservation. *Describes latest methods used to disseminate and obtaininformation needed for conservation and care of this species. *Includes coverage on genetics and ecology, policy, poaching and trade, captive breeding and farming, and the status of Asia s last wild tigers. *Excellent resource for grad courses in conservation biology, wildlife management, and veterinary programs. *New volume continues the classic Noyes Series in Animal Behavior, Ecology, Conservation and Management. "
This practical book provides crucial information necessary to formulate diets with appropriate amounts of amino acids, minerals, and vitamins. The factors that influence how well animals obtain these critical nutrients and methods for determining bioavailability are reviewed in this comprehensive text. In addition, data from both ruminants and nonruminants are included as well as established estimates of bioavailability for particular feed stuffs and feed supplements. |
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