Adaptation, History, and Development in the Evolution of a Desert Annual Life History

Adaptation, History, and Development in the Evolution of a Desert Annual Life History PDF Author: Gordon Allen Fox
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Desert plants
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Adaptation, History, and Development in the Evolution of a Desert Annual Life History

Adaptation, History, and Development in the Evolution of a Desert Annual Life History PDF Author: Gordon Allen Fox
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Desert plants
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description


Evolution of Desert Biota

Evolution of Desert Biota PDF Author: David W. Goodall
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292740999
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Written by specialists in the field, the papers in this volume explore evolution of animals and plants on the deserts of North America, South America, and Australia. Together, the articles constitute a complete survey of the geological history of the deserts of three continents, the evolution of the animals and plants of those deserts, and their adaptations to the environments in which they live. The first paper, by Otto T. Solbrig, discusses the flora of the South American temperate and semidesert regions, citing numerous genera and reasons that they are found in the different areas. John S. Beard uses the same approach in his discussion of the evolution of Australian desert plants and focuses on western Australian areas. Guillermo Sarmiento appraises the evolution of arid vegetation in tropical America, including the Lesser Antilles and the Coast Range of Venezuela and Colombia. A. R. Main surveys the adaptation of Australian vertebrates to desert conditions and gives examples of how various species of birds, reptiles, and amphibians adapt to their environment in order for the greatest number to survive. James A. MacMahon designates specific communities in the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts and discusses the similarity of species of the North American desert mammal faunas found there, while Bobbi S. Low focuses on the evolution of amphibian life histories in the desert and compiles a lengthy table of amphibia comparing egg size, habitat, number of eggs per clutch, and so forth. Finally, W. Frank Blair treats adaptation of anurans to equivalent desert scrub of North and South America and cites various species of frogs and toads that are found in similar areas. The volume also includes an introduction by the editor and an index. Evolution of Desert Biota is the result of a symposium held during the First International Congress of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology in Boulder, Colorado; in August 1973.

Climate Change in Deserts

Climate Change in Deserts PDF Author: Martin Williams
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107016916
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 653

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Book Description
A synthesis of the environmental and climatic history of every major desert and desert margin, for researchers and advanced students.

Ecology

Ecology PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 756

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Evolution and Development

Evolution and Development PDF Author: J.T. Bonner
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642455328
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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3 There are other trends in the attempt to meld evolution and development which immodesty permits me to add. I have been concerned over the years with the selection forces which might have produced larger organisms and therefore a development of increasing complexity. This is nowhere more evident than in the multiple evolutionary origins of multicellularity and all the variety of developmental mechanics that have gone with it. (I discuss this and related themes in various places, but see especially The Evolution of Development (1958; (1)) and Size and Cycle (1965; (2)). To some degree these examples of the bringing together of evolu tion and development are exceptions. By far the most important historical trends in this century have been the success of in dividual disciplines. Embryology had its great flowering be ginning in the last century, coming to a climax with the work of Spemann on induction in the first two decades of this cen tury. Genetics has had an extraordinary continuing series of revolutions beginning with the rediscovery of Mendel and pro gressing through Morgan to the flash flood of molecular genetics and the structure of DNA. This flood was a flash only in the sense that it rushed upon us with amazing speed; its effects in the form of important and exciting work produced has not subsided and we are still in a peak period of molecular genetics.

The American Naturalist

The American Naturalist PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Natural history
Languages : en
Pages : 904

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Life History Evolution in Plants

Life History Evolution in Plants PDF Author: Timo Olavi Vuorisalo
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9781402002793
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
"The lack of discussion of the life histories of modular organisms is the weakness of this book that I most regret. . . . Modular organisms are different. " S. C. Steams: The Evolution of Life Histories (1992) Life-history theory endeavours to increase our understanding of the processe,s whereby the broad features of the life cycles of organisms, such as the timing and magnitude of reproduction, have evolved. Although reproductive traits have dominated as study objects due to their immediate importance for evolutionary success, much work has also been conducted on patterns of development, growth and senescence, as well as on the shifts in resource allocation related to these processes. The basic axiom of life-history theory is that patterns of life histories, such as reproductive traits, are subject to evolutionary explanation. This idea can be traced back at least as far as Darwin's Origin of Species (1859). In his discussion of plant domestication, Darwin wrote: "I cannot doubt that the continued selection of slight variations, either in the leaves, the flowers, or the fruit, will produce races differing from each other chiefly in these characters". Darwin was impressed by the success of plant breeders in moulding the growth and reproductive parameters of cultivated plants, and believed that natural selection could have a similar impact in natural populations.

Survival Strategies of Annual Desert Plants

Survival Strategies of Annual Desert Plants PDF Author: Yitzchak Gutterman
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642559743
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
Annual desert plant species of unrelated taxa in the Negev Desert of Israel have developed complementary sets of adaptations and survival strategies as ecological equivalents with physiological, morphological and anatomical resemblances, in the various stages of their life cycles. After 40 years of research in hot deserts Yitzchak Gutterman provides a comprehensive treatise of such adaptations and strategies. In doing so he covers the following topics: post-maturation primary seed dormancy, which prevents germination of maturing seeds before the summer; seed dispersal mechanisms with escape or protection strategies; cautious or opportunistic germination strategies; seedling drought tolerance. The day-length is an important factor in regulating flowering as well as the phenotypic plasticity of seed germination which is also affected by maternal factors.

The Karoo

The Karoo PDF Author: W. Richard J. Dean
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139429159
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
The succulent and Nama-karoo form part of the arid south-western zone of Africa, a vast region of rugged landscapes and low treeless vegetation. Studies of this unique biome have yielded fascinating insights into the ecology of its flora and fauna. This book, originally published in 1999, is the first to synthesise these studies, presenting information on biogeographic patterns and life processes, form and function of animals and plants, foraging ecology, landscape-level dynamics and anthropogenic influences. Detailed analyses of the factors distinguishing the biota of the Karoo from that of other temperate deserts are given and generalisations about semi-arid ecosystems challenged. The ideas expounded, the ecological principles reviewed, and the results presented are relevant to all those working in the extensive arid and semi-arid regions of the world.

Biology of Desert Invertebrates

Biology of Desert Invertebrates PDF Author: C. S. Crawford
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642857949
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
What little we know of the biology of desert invertebrates stems largely from inferences based on intensive and repeated observations. Such informa tion is not gained easily, since despite the actual abundance of these animals, relatively few of them are ever seen. In fact, except for species impacting on the well-being of human populations, historically most have been ignored by scholars in the western world. Indeed, it was ancient Egypt, with its reverence for the symbolism of the scarab, that probably provided us with the clearest early record of prominent desert types. A more modest resurgence of the story had to wait until the arrival of the present century. To be sure, some of the more obvious species had by then been elevated by European collectors to the level of drawing-room curios ities, and expeditions had returned large numbers to museums. But by 1900 the task of describing desert species and relationships among them was still in its infancy; and as for careful natural history studies, they too were just coming into their own.