Ecophysiology of Desert Arthropods and Reptiles

Ecophysiology of Desert Arthropods and Reptiles PDF Author: John L. Cloudsley-Thompson
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 364275337X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
Ecophysiology of Desert Arthropods and Reptiles starts with a new classification of the world's deserts, based upon the type of precipitation and the effect on their faunas of arthropods and reptiles. This is followed by an account of microclimates and the avoidance of environmental extremes. Whereas thermoregulation is primarily behavioural, responses to water shortage are largely physiological. Seasonal activity and phenology are described, adaptations for burrowing, the avoidance of enemies, and defence, are also outlined. A comparative account of interspecific relationships, feeding specializations, and species diversity in the two taxa is described. The purpose of the book is to provide a new and up-to-date analysis that will stimulate further research along these lines.

Ecophysiology of Desert Arthropods and Reptiles

Ecophysiology of Desert Arthropods and Reptiles PDF Author: John L. Cloudsley-Thompson
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 364275337X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
Ecophysiology of Desert Arthropods and Reptiles starts with a new classification of the world's deserts, based upon the type of precipitation and the effect on their faunas of arthropods and reptiles. This is followed by an account of microclimates and the avoidance of environmental extremes. Whereas thermoregulation is primarily behavioural, responses to water shortage are largely physiological. Seasonal activity and phenology are described, adaptations for burrowing, the avoidance of enemies, and defence, are also outlined. A comparative account of interspecific relationships, feeding specializations, and species diversity in the two taxa is described. The purpose of the book is to provide a new and up-to-date analysis that will stimulate further research along these lines.

Ecophysiology of Desert Reptiles

Ecophysiology of Desert Reptiles PDF Author: Sidney Donald Bradshaw
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780121245764
Category : Desert animals
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description


Ecophysiology of Desert Reptiles

Ecophysiology of Desert Reptiles PDF Author: Sidney Donald Bradshaw
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description


Ecophysiology of Desert Vertebrates

Ecophysiology of Desert Vertebrates PDF Author: Pulak K. Ghosh
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 492

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Book Description


Vertebrate Ecophysiology

Vertebrate Ecophysiology PDF Author: Don Bradshaw
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521521093
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Ecophysiology attempts to clarify the role and importance of physiological processes, such as digestion and respiration, in the ecological relations of species in their natural habitats. The basic principles and methods that are central to any ecophysiological study are outlined and discussed, including animal capture, blood collection, and the measurement of plasma components and hormone levels. Attention is paid to animal welfare and ethical considerations, and the question of stress and how to identify its presence in animals in their natural environment is approached through a series of case studies. Examples are given from a wide range of vertebrates living in deserts, cold climates and oceans, and recent findings on the physiological adaptations of Antarctic birds and mammals are a highlight of the book. This textbook will provide an introduction to the study of ecophysiology for advanced undergraduates and postgraduate students, as well as researchers in ecology, biodiversity and conservation.

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.

Desert Arthropods: Life History Variations

Desert Arthropods: Life History Variations PDF Author: Fred Punzo
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3662040905
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
It is difficult for me to recollect a time when I was not fascinated with the very notion of a desert. Walt Disney's film, The Living Desert, which I initially saw when I was 8 years of age, provided me with my first glimpse of this wondrous yet seemingly ho stile environment. The images were hypnotic and captivating. I looked on in amazement at the promenade Cl deux of the male and female scorpions during courtship. Their rhythmic and coordinated movements as they grasped one another made them appear to glide in unis on over the surface of the sand, each individual totally absorbed with its partner. In the next minute the fern ale had suddenly and utterly transformed herself like some Jekyll and Hyde act, into an aggressive predator whose prior gregarious embrace was now a hold of death for the male. The indomitable desert grasshopper mouse, the ever sentient kit fox, the graceful shovel-nosed snake swimming in an endless sea of sand.

Plants in the Deserts of the Middle East

Plants in the Deserts of the Middle East PDF Author: Kamal H. Batanouny
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3662044803
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
Usually authors write introductions for their books, although they know that not many readers will read it. Despite this, authors insist on writing an introduction and no publisher will publish a book without one. I would like to inform my dear readers that I have spent almost all of the first quarter of my life in a village in the Nile Delta, 65 km north of Cairo. The everyday scenery there was the beautiful green landscape dissected with canals full of running water. All of these were bordered with the huge sycamore, mulberry and acacia trees. The desert was something unknown to me at that time, except for the very basic information given in geography books, which explained that the desert is a place without water or cultiva tion. Some of my ideas about the desert came to me from the stories in the history of Islam and the desert lands where Islam originated. My real attraction to the desert developed in the last year of my under graduate studies. This was during the field courses in Ecology (Prof. A.M.

Homeostasis in Desert Reptiles

Homeostasis in Desert Reptiles PDF Author: Sidney Donald Bradshaw
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642603556
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
Deserts, whether hot or cold, are considered to be one of the most difficult environments for living systems, lacking the essential free water which ac counts for approximately 60-70% of their body mass and more than 98% of their constituent atoms {Macfarlane 1978}. Amongst vertebrates, reptiles are usually thought of as the animals most adapted or suited to such environments because of their diurnal habit, based on a need for external heat, and their ability to survive far from obvious sources of water. This impression is rein forced when one examines the composition of vertebrate faunae characteristic of deserts and arid zones: reptiles predominate and they are often the only vertebrates to be found in hyper-arid areas, such as some parts of the Sahara {Monod 1973}. I recently had occasion to examine this assumption carefully, however, and was led inexorably to the conclusion that reptiles represent a particularly successful desert group, not because of their evolution of superior adaptations, but because of their possession of a basic suite of behavioural and physiologi cal characteristics that suit them uniquely to this very resource-limited environment {Bradshaw 1986a}. These fundamental reptilian characteristics are: 1. their low rates of metabolism, compared with birds and mammals, which result in extremely low rates of resource utilisation and lead to considerable economy in the handling of water 2.

Avian Desert Predators

Avian Desert Predators PDF Author: William E. Cook
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 364260353X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 135

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Book Description
Unlike mammals, birds are not particularly well suited to desert life. Among the few types of birds that have successfully adapted to the desert ecosystem are the predators. With individual chapters devoted to each of the different species, the book explores those attributes which make this group suited to desert life, and how they have developed their abilities to cope with the prevailing harsh conditions. This readily accessible volume collates a substantial amount of the latest research on this fascinating subject.