Patterns and Processes of Vertebrate Evolution

Patterns and Processes of Vertebrate Evolution PDF Author: Robert Lynn Carroll
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521478090
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
The factors that influenced the evolution of the vertebrates are compared with the importance of variation and selection that Darwin emphasised in this broad study of the patterns and forces of evolutionary change.

Patterns and Processes of Vertebrate Evolution

Patterns and Processes of Vertebrate Evolution PDF Author: Robert Lynn Carroll
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521478090
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
The factors that influenced the evolution of the vertebrates are compared with the importance of variation and selection that Darwin emphasised in this broad study of the patterns and forces of evolutionary change.

The Physiological Ecology of Vertebrates

The Physiological Ecology of Vertebrates PDF Author: Brian Keith McNab
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801439131
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 618

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Book Description
Though physiological ecology has been a discipline since the 1950s, McNab redresses a perceived absence of a theoretical framework with a comparative, inductive approach to studying vertebrate evolution and ecology. He discusses the patterns and limits of adaptation to the environment, acclimation to temperature variation and material exchange with the environment, and the energetics of locomotion and growth. The final section treats the significance of energetics for population ecology and distribution. Includes a taxonomic as well as subject index. Suitable for advanced students and researchers in the biological and ecological sciences. The Gainesville, FL-based author is referred to by the foreword writer as a keen naturalist, but his credentials are not stated. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR.

The Central Nervous System of Vertebrates

The Central Nervous System of Vertebrates PDF Author: Hartwig Kuhlenbeck
Publisher: Karger Medical and Scientific Publishers
ISBN: 9783805526456
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 674

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Book Description
In 1927, Hartwig Kuhlenbeck published a series of lectures on the central nervous system of vertebrates and gave neurobiology its standard reference for decades. The present work, now complete in 5 volumes, represents a monumental expansion of the early lectures.

Vertebrates

Vertebrates PDF Author: Kenneth V. Kardong
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Science, Engineering & Mathematics
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 778

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Book Description


The Vertebrate Integument Volume 2

The Vertebrate Integument Volume 2 PDF Author: Theagarten Lingham-Soliar
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 366246005X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description
The emphasis in this volume is on the structure and functional design of the integument. The book starts with a brief introduction to some basic principles of physics (mechanics) including Newton’s Three Laws of Motion. These principles are subsequently used to interpret the problems animals encounter in motion. It is in only the last 40 or so years that we have begun to understand how important a role the integument plays in the locomotion of many marine vertebrates. This involves the crossed-fiber architecture, which was first discovered in a classic study on nemertean worms. As a design principle we see that the crossed-fiber architecture is ubiquitous in nature. Research on some of the most dynamic marine vertebrates of the oceans – tuna, dolphins and sharks, and the extinct Jurassic ichthyosaurs – shows precisely how the crossed-fiber architecture contributes to high-speed swimming and (in lamnid sharks) may even aid in energy conservation. However, this design principle is not restricted to animals in the marine biota but is also found as far afield as the dinosaurs and, most recently, has been revealed as a major part of the microstructure of the most complex derivative of the integument, the feather. We see that a variety of phylogenetically diverse vertebrates take to the air by using skin flaps to glide from tree to tree or to the ground, and present detailed descriptions of innovations developed in pursuit of improved gliding capabilities in both extinct and modern day gliders. But the vertebrate integument had even greater things in store, namely true or flapping flight. Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to use the integument as a membrane in true flapping flight and these interesting extinct animals are discussed on the basis of past and cutting-edge research , most intriguingly with respect to the structure of the flight membrane. Bats, the only mammals that fly, also employ integumental flight membranes. Classic research on bat flight is reviewed and supplemented with the latest research, which shows the complexities of the wing beat cycle to be significantly different from that of birds, as revealed by particle image velocimetry. The book’s largest chapter is devoted to birds, given that they make up nearly half of the over 22,000 species of tetrapods. The flight apparatus of birds is unique in nature and is described in great detail, with innovative research highlighting the complexity of the flight structures, bird flight patterns, and behavior in a variety of species. This is complimented by new research on the brains of birds, which shows that they are more complex than previously thought. The feather made bird flight possible, and was itself made possible by β-keratin, contributing to what may be a unique biomechanical microstructure in nature, a topic discussed in some depth. A highly polarized subject concerns the origin of birds and of the feather. Alleged fossilized protofeathers (primal simple feathers) are considered on the basis of histological and taphonomic investigative studies in Chapter 6. Finally, in Chapter 7 we discuss the controversies associated with this field of research. Professor Theagarten Lingham-Soliar works at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth and is an Honorary Professor of Life Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

The Acquisition of Motor Behavior in Vertebrates

The Acquisition of Motor Behavior in Vertebrates PDF Author: James R. Bloedel
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262024044
Category : Classical conditioning
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
Our motor skills determine how well we perform in athletics, dance, music, and in carrying out countless daily chores. While our proficiency at performing individual actions and synthesizing them into seamless sequences limits our athletic and artistic talents, we are not perpetually bound by such limitations. The nervous system can acquire new, and modify old, motor behaviors through experience and practice. That is motor learning.The Acquisition of Motor Behavior in Vertebratesprovides a broad, multidisciplinary survey of recent research on the brain systems and mechanisms underlying motor learning. Following the editors' introduction, nineteen contributions report on the neurobiology of these higher brain functions and on diverse types of motor learning such as reflex adaptation, conditioned and instrumental reflex learning, visually guided actions, and complex sequences and skills.

Vertebrates. 2v

Vertebrates. 2v PDF Author: Bruce W. Halstead
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Marine animals
Languages : en
Pages : 1036

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Book Description


Other Vertebrates and Invertebrates

Other Vertebrates and Invertebrates PDF Author: Edwin J. Atencio
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 148328218X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 558

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Book Description
Nucleotide Sequences 1986/1987, Volume III: Other Vertebrates and Invertebrates presents data that reflect the information found in GenBank Release 44.0 of August 1986. This book provides information pertinent to the unique international collaboration between two leading nucleotide sequence data libraries, one based in Europe and one in the United States. Organized into three sections, this volume begins with an overview of the sequences, some basic identifying information, and some of the biological annotations. This text then discusses the EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Data Library, an international center of fundamental research with its main focus in the fields of cell biology, molecular structures, instrumentation, and differentiation. This book discusses as well the GenBank database established in 1982 by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the U.S National Institutes of Health. This book is a valuable resource for molecular biologists and other investigators collecting the large number of reported DNA and RNA sequences and making them available in computer-readable form.

Sexual Segregation in Vertebrates

Sexual Segregation in Vertebrates PDF Author: Kathreen Ruckstuhl
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521835220
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 512

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Book Description
Males and females of many species can, and do, live separately for long periods of time. This sexual segregation is widespread and can be on social, spatial or habitat scales. An understanding of sexual segregation is important in the explanation of life history and social preference, population dynamics and the conservation of rare species. Sexual Segregation in Vertebrates explores the reasons why this behaviour has evolved and what factors contribute to it.

Quantitative Conservation of Vertebrates

Quantitative Conservation of Vertebrates PDF Author: Michael J. Conroy
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1444356496
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
This book provides a hands-on introduction to the construction and application of models to studies of vertebrate distribution, abundance, and habitat. The book is aimed at field biologists, conservation planners, and advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students who are involved with planning and analyzing conservation studies, and applying the results to conservation decisions. The book also acts as a bridge to more advanced and mathematically challenging coverage in the wider literature. Part I provides a basic background in population and community modeling. It introduces statistical models, and familiarizes the reader with important concepts in the design of monitoring and research programs. These programs provide the essential data that guide conservation decision making. Part II covers the principal methods used to estimate abundance, occupancy, demographic parameters, and community parameters, including occupancy sampling, sample counts, distance sampling, and capture-mark-recapture (for both closed and open populations). Emphasis is placed on practical aspects of designing and implementing field studies, and the proper analysis of data. Part III introduces structured decision making and adaptive management, in which predictive models are used to inform conservation decision makers on appropriate decisions in the face of uncertainty—with the goal of reducing uncertainty through monitoring and research. A detailed case study is used to illustrate each of these themes. Numerous worked examples and accompanying electronic material (on a website - http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/conroy - and accompanying CD) provide the details of model construction and application, and data analysis.