"Pollination and Floral Ecology" is the most comprehensive single-volume reference to all aspects of pollination biology--and the first fully up-to-date resource of its kind to appear in decades. This beautifully illustrated book describes how flowers use colors, shapes, and scents to advertise themselves; how they offer pollen and nectar as rewards; and how they share complex interactions with beetles, birds, bats, bees, and other creatures. The ecology of these interactions is covered in depth, including the timing and patterning of flowering, competition among flowering plants to attract certain visitors and deter others, and the many ways plants and animals can cheat each other.

"Pollination and Floral Ecology" pays special attention to the prevalence of specialization and generalization in animal-flower interactions, and examines how a lack of distinction between casual visitors and true pollinators can produce misleading conclusions about flower evolution and animal-flower mutualism. This one-of-a-kind reference also gives insights into the vital pollination services that animals provide to crops and native flora, and sets these issues in the context of today's global pollination crisis. Provides the most up-to-date resource on pollination and floral ecology Describes flower advertising features and rewards, foraging and learning by flower-visiting animals, behaviors of generalist and specialist pollinators--and more Examines the ecology and evolution of animal-flower interactions, from the molecular to macroevolutionary scale Features hundreds of color and black-and-white illustrations

This book succeeds in bringing together the previously scattered literature on invertebrate phylogeny, forming a unique introduction to this fascinating and controversial subject. Phylogenetic study is an important corner-stone of biology, for the evolutionary relationships between groups of animals bear heavily upon the analysis of their physiology, behavior and ecology. Until now, there have been few books which analyse the diversity of animal life in terms of its origins and the relationships between different groups. After reviewing the current state of the subject, the author discusses the various sources of evidence which bear upon the question of how living animals are related to each other. Then, these lines of evidence are applied to particular groups of invertebrates. The prevalence of convergent evolution is a strong theme, as it becomes clear that many features, from details of cell chemistry and structure to overall body plan and life history, have been invented repeatedly and independently under similar selection pressures. Pat Willmer has drawn upon her experience teaching invertebrate zoology to undergraduates at Cambridge and Oxford to produce a stimulating, meaningful account of the relationships between invertebrate phyla and of the phylogenetic pattern of the animal kingdom.