Visual Behavior in Salamanders

Visual Behavior in Salamanders PDF Author: Gerhard Roth
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642727131
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
Salamanders are subject to misconceptions even among vertebrate zoologists and physiologists. They are often said to exist only in northern temperate zones, being bound to aquatic or very moist cool habitats. In reality, more than half of all salamander species live in subtropical and tropical zones, ex clusively in the New World. Again, more than half of the salamand~r species have become totally independent of aquatic habitats following the loss of a free larval stage. Many of the subtropical and tropical salamanders have become adapted to rather high temperatures up to 26-28 DC. The brain and the sensory systems of salamanders are often considered to be primitive, and their behavior is thought to be simple and uninfluenced by learning. However, careful studies show that the salamander brain possesses virtually all the ana tomical and functional properties found in anurans, which are usually regarded as being much more evolved with respect to the guidance of comparable behavior. Most of the salamander species not only possess a highly efficient visual system, which is the topic of the present work, but can orient themselves almost as effectively by means of olfaction, vibration sense, and electroreception. Furthermore, it has recently been shown that at least part of their behavior, especially that concerned with feeding and prey preferences, is strongly influenced by individual experience.

Visual Behavior in Salamanders

Visual Behavior in Salamanders PDF Author: Gerhard Roth
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642727131
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 311

Get Book Here

Book Description
Salamanders are subject to misconceptions even among vertebrate zoologists and physiologists. They are often said to exist only in northern temperate zones, being bound to aquatic or very moist cool habitats. In reality, more than half of all salamander species live in subtropical and tropical zones, ex clusively in the New World. Again, more than half of the salamand~r species have become totally independent of aquatic habitats following the loss of a free larval stage. Many of the subtropical and tropical salamanders have become adapted to rather high temperatures up to 26-28 DC. The brain and the sensory systems of salamanders are often considered to be primitive, and their behavior is thought to be simple and uninfluenced by learning. However, careful studies show that the salamander brain possesses virtually all the ana tomical and functional properties found in anurans, which are usually regarded as being much more evolved with respect to the guidance of comparable behavior. Most of the salamander species not only possess a highly efficient visual system, which is the topic of the present work, but can orient themselves almost as effectively by means of olfaction, vibration sense, and electroreception. Furthermore, it has recently been shown that at least part of their behavior, especially that concerned with feeding and prey preferences, is strongly influenced by individual experience.

Visual Behavior in Salamanders

Visual Behavior in Salamanders PDF Author: Professor of Zoology/Director of Brain Research Institute Gerhard Roth
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783642727146
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
This book deals with vision and visually guided behavior in salamanders, with special emphasis on feeding behavior. The underlying neural mechanisms, functional morphology, as well as ecological and evolutionary aspects of salamander behavior are studied. The extensive data comprises experiments on visually guided behavior, the influence of learning and imprinting on feeding behavior, the anatomy of the salamander eye and brain, and the morphology and development of the visual and visiomotor centers. This book also presents mechanisms and models of processing visual information within the salamander eye and brain, of object recognition, depth perception and sensory-motor interface problems in amphibians. This book will be invaluable to all scientists working on visually guided behavior, amphibian neurophysiology and ecologically induced behavior.

Analysis of Visual Behavior

Analysis of Visual Behavior PDF Author: David Ingle
Publisher: MIT Press (MA)
ISBN:
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 870

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Book Description
"Analysis of Visual Behavior" encompasses both theoretical and experimental research. It deals with the visual mechanisms of diverse vertebrate species from salamanders and toads to primates and humans and presents a stimulating interaction of the disciplines of anatomy, physiology, and behavioral science. Throughout, visual mechanisms are investigated from the point of view of the brain functioning at the organismic level, as opposed to the now more prevalent focus on the molecular and cellular levels. This approach allows researchers to deal with the patterns of visually guided behavior of animals in real-life situations.The twenty-six contributions in the book are divided among three sections: "Indentification and Localization Processes in Nonmammalian Vertebrates," introduced by David J. Ingle; "Visual Guidance of Motor Patterns: The Role of Visual Cortex and the Superior Colliculus," introduced by Melvyn A. Goodale; and "Recognition and Transfer Processes," introduced by Richard J. W. Mansfield.The editors are all university researchers in psychology: David J. Ingle at Brandeis, Melvyn A. Goodale at the University of Western Ontario, and Richard J. W. Mansfield at Harvard.

Salamanders

Salamanders PDF Author: Rashid Gerasimov
Publisher: Nova Science Publishers
ISBN: 9781536164701
Category : Salamanders
Languages : en
Pages : 154

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Book Description
In Waterton Lakes National Park, located in southwest Alberta, Canada, under-road crossing structures were installed in 2008 to protect a population of long-toed salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum) at Linnet Lake from mortality during breeding migrations that intersected with the park's entrance road. This compilation first investigates orientation and movement patterns of marked individuals at Linnet Lake in 2013 and 2014, and at a smaller, shallower wetland Stable Pond in 2014 to document in detail how long-toed salamanders used the terrestrial landscape around breeding sites during adult migration and juvenile dispersal. Following this, the authors use generalized linear models to model salamander occurrence and abundance in the Beaver Hills region of north-central Alberta as a function of land cover type and pocket gopher density. The authors go on to address whether any ecological barriers exist in the distribution range of the two newt species N. strauchii and N. crocatus. According to the findings of this study, an identity test was found to be significantly different from the null distribution, whereas a background test was not significantly different from the null distribution. The concluding chapter summarizes the processes by which light is converted into neural signals by rods and cones and then transmitted to downstream neurons in the retina, with a focus on salamander photoreceptors. The different types of photoreceptor cells and other light-sensitive cells in salamanders and their role in vision are also discussed.

Behavioral Ecology of the Eastern Red-backed Salamander

Behavioral Ecology of the Eastern Red-backed Salamander PDF Author: Robert G. Jaeger
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190628413
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
The small, terrestrial eastern red-backed salamander is abundant on many forest floors of northeastern North America. Dr. Robert Jaeger and many of his graduate students spent over 50 years studying this species in New York and Virginia, using ecological techniques in forests and behavioral experiments in laboratory chambers in an attempt to understand how this species interacts with other species in the forest and the components of its intra- and intersexual social behaviors. The competitive and social behaviors of this species are unusually complex for an amphibian. This species is highly aggressive towards other similar-size species where they cohabit in forests, often leading to very little geographic overlap between the species. The authors examine the fascinating behavioral traits of this species including social monogamy, mutual mate guarding, sexual coercion, inter-species communication, and conflict resolution.

Behavioral Ecology of the Eastern Red-backed Salamander

Behavioral Ecology of the Eastern Red-backed Salamander PDF Author: Robert Jaeger
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190605502
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Examines over fifty years of research of the red-backed salamander

The Ecology and Behavior of Amphibians

The Ecology and Behavior of Amphibians PDF Author: Kentwood D. Wells
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226893332
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1162

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Book Description
Consisting of more than six thousand species, amphibians are more diverse than mammals and are found on every continent save Antarctica. Despite the abundance and diversity of these animals, many aspects of the biology of amphibians remain unstudied or misunderstood. The Ecology and Behavior of Amphibians aims to fill this gap in the literature on this remarkable taxon. It is a celebration of the diversity of amphibian life and the ecological and behavioral adaptations that have made it a successful component of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Synthesizing seventy years of research on amphibian biology, Kentwood D. Wells addresses all major areas of inquiry, including phylogeny, classification, and morphology; aspects of physiological ecology such as water and temperature relations, respiration, metabolism, and energetics; movements and orientation; communication and social behavior; reproduction and parental care; ecology and behavior of amphibian larvae and ecological aspects of metamorphosis; ecological impact of predation on amphibian populations and antipredator defenses; and aspects of amphibian community ecology. With an eye towards modern concerns, The Ecology and Behavior of Amphibians concludes with a chapter devoted to amphibian conservation. An unprecedented scholarly contribution to amphibian biology, this book is eagerly anticipated among specialists.

Amphibian Biology: Sensory perception

Amphibian Biology: Sensory perception PDF Author: Harold Heatwole
Publisher: Surrey Beatty and Sons
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Amphibian Biology was inspired by Biology of the Reptilia, edited by Carl Gans, and is intended as a companion to that series.

Visuomotor Coordination

Visuomotor Coordination PDF Author: Jorg Peter Ewert
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1489908978
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 931

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Book Description
Various brain areas of mammals can phyletically be traced back to homologous structures in amphibians. The amphibian brain may thus be regarded as a kind of "microcosm" of the highly complex primate brain, as far as certain homologous structures, sensory functions, and assigned ballistic (pre-planned and pre-pro grammed) motor and behavioral processes are concerned. A variety of fundamental operations that underlie perception, cognition, sensorimotor transformation and its modulation appear to proceed in primate's brain in a way understandable in terms of basic principles which can be investigated more easily by experiments in amphibians. We have learned that progress in the quantitative description and evaluation of these principles can be obtained with guidance from theory. Modeling - supported by simulation - is a process of transforming abstract theory derived from data into testable structures. Where empirical data are lacking or are difficult to obtain because of structural constraints, the modeler makes assumptions and approximations that, by themselves, are a source of hypotheses. If a neural model is then tied to empirical data, it can be used to predict results and hence again to become subject to experimental tests whose resulting data in tum will lead to further improvements of the model. By means of our present models of visuomotor coordination and its modulation by state-dependent inputs, we are just beginning to simulate and analyze how external information is represented within different brain structures and how these structures use these operations to control adaptive behavior.

The Head-neck Sensory Motor System

The Head-neck Sensory Motor System PDF Author: A. Berthoz
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780195068207
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 798

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Book Description
This is the most comprehensive and up-to-date account of the control of vertebrate head movements and its biomechanical and neural basis. It covers the entire spectrum of research on head-neck movements, ranging from the global description and analysis of a particular behavior to its underlying mechanisms at the level of neurotransmitter release and membrane biophysics.