Physiological Ecology of Animals PDF Download

Author: R. M. Sibly
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN: 9780632014941
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 179

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Author: William H. Karasov
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691074534
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 758

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Book Description
Unlocking the puzzle of how animals behave and how they interact with their environments is impossible without understanding the physiological processes that determine their use of food resources. But long overdue is a user-friendly introduction to the subject that systematically bridges the gap between physiology and ecology. Ecologists--for whom such knowledge can help clarify the consequences of global climate change, the biodiversity crisis, and pollution--often find themselves wading through an unwieldy, technically top-heavy literature. Here, William Karasov and Carlos Martínez del Rio present the first accessible and authoritative one-volume overview of the physiological and biochemical principles that shape how animals procure energy and nutrients and free themselves of toxins--and how this relates to broader ecological phenomena. After introducing primary concepts, the authors review the chemical ecology of food, and then discuss how animals digest and process food. Their broad view includes symbioses and extends even to ecosystem phenomena such as ecological stochiometry and toxicant biomagnification. They introduce key methods and illustrate principles with wide-ranging vertebrate and invertebrate examples. Uniquely, they also link the physiological mechanisms of resource use with ecological phenomena such as how and why animals choose what they eat and how they participate in the exchange of energy and materials in their biological communities. Thoroughly up-to-date and pointing the way to future research, Physiological Ecology is an essential new source for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students-and an ideal synthesis for professionals. The most accessible introduction to the physiological and biochemical principles that shape how animals use resources Unique in linking the physiological mechanisms of resource use with ecological phenomena An essential resource for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students An ideal overview for researchers

Author: Brian Keith McNab
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801439131
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 618

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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.

Author: Barbara Ann Block
Publisher: Gulf Professional Publishing
ISBN: 9780123504432
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 490

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Annotation Tuna are biologically fascinating, with many specializations such as endothermy (warm-bloodedness), aerobic capacity, and migratory abilities. The primary focus of this book is the physiology of tuna with respect to biomechanics, thermoregulation, and morphology. An evolutionary and phylogenetic backdrop illustrates the importance of comparative perspectives. Because of the economic importance of tuna, a secondary focus of the book is tuna aquaculture and conservation.

Author: Colin R. Townsend
Publisher: Sinauer Associates, Incorporated
ISBN: 9780878938278
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Author: Robert W. Pearcy
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401090130
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 463

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capable of providing at least a relative measure of stomatal aperture were first used shortly thereafter (Darwin and Pertz, 1911). The Carnegie Institution of Washington's Desert Research Laboratory in Tucson from 1905 to 1927 was the first effort by plant physiologists and ecologists to conduct team research on the water relations of desert plants. Measurements by Stocker in the North African deserts and Indonesia (Stocker, 1928, 1935) and by Lundegardh (1922) in forest understories were pioneering attempts to understand the environmental controls on photosynthesis in the field. While these early physiological ecologists were keen observers and often posed hypotheses still relevant today they were strongly limited by the methods and technologies available to them. Their measurements provided only rough approximations of the actual plant responses. The available laboratory equip ment was either unsuited or much more difficult to operate under field than laboratory conditions. Laboratory physiologists distrusted the results and ecologists were largely not persuaded of its relevance. Consequently, it was not until the 1950s and 1960s that physiological ecology began its current resurgence. While the reasons for this are complicated, the development and application of more sophisticated instruments such as the infrared gas analyzer played a major role. In addition, the development of micrometeorology led to new methods of characterizing the plant environments.

Author: Steven L. Chown
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191523348
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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This book provides a modern, synthetic overview of interactions between insects and their environments from a physiological perspective that integrates information across a range of approaches and scales. It shows that evolved physiological responses at the individual level are translated into coherent physiological and ecological patterns at larger, even global scales. This is done by examining in detail the ways in which insects obtain resources from the environment, process these resources in various ways, and turn the results into energy which allows them to regulate their internal environment as well as cope with environmental extremes of temperature and water availability. The book demonstrates that physiological responses are not only characterized by substantial temporal variation, but also shows coherent variation across several spatial scales. At the largest, global scale, there appears to be substantial variation associated with the hemisphere in which insects are found. Such variation has profound implications for patterns of biodiversity as well as responses to climate change, and these implications are explicitly discussed. The book provides a novel integration of the understanding gained from broad-scale field studies of many species and the more narrowly focused laboratory investigations of model organisms. In so doing it reflects the growing realization that an integration of mechanistic and large-scale comparative physiology can result in unexpected insights into the diversity of insects.

Author: John Spicer
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1444311425
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Ecologists have always believed, at least to a certain extent, that physiological mechanisms serve to underpin ecological patterns. However, their importance has traditionally been at best underestimated and at worst ignored, with physiological variation being dismissed as either an irrelevance or as random noise/error. Spicer and Gaston make a convincing argument that the precise physiology does matter! In contrast to previous works which have attempted to integrate ecology and physiology, Physiological Diversity adopts a completely different and more controversial approach in tackling the physiology first before moving on to consider the implications for ecology. This is timely given the recent and considerable interest in the mechanisms underlying ecological patterns. Indeed, many of these mechanisms are physiological. This textbook provides a contemporary summary of physiological diversity as it occurs at different hierarchical levels (individual, population, species etc.), and the implications of such diversity for ecology and, by implication, evolution. It reviews what is known of physiological diversity and in doing so exposes the reader to all the key works in the field. It also portrays many of these studies in a completely new light, thereby serving as an agenda for, and impetus to, the future study of physiological variation. Physiological Diversity will be of relevance to senior undergraduates, postgraduates and professional researchers in the fields of ecology, ecological physiology, ecotoxicology, environmental biology and conservation. The book spans both terrestrial and marine systems.

Author: N. Michelle Holbrook
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080454232
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 597

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Vascular Transport in Plants provides an up-to-date synthesis of new research on the biology of long distance transport processes in plants. It is a valuable resource and reference for researchers and graduate level students in physiology, molecular biology, physiology, ecology, ecological physiology, development, and all applied disciplines related to agriculture, horticulture, forestry and biotechnology. The book considers long-distance transport from the perspective of molecular level processes to whole plant function, allowing readers to integrate information relating to vascular transport across multiple scales. The book is unique in presenting xylem and phloem transport processes in plants together in a comparative style that emphasizes the important interactions between these two parallel transport systems. - Includes 105 exceptional figures - Discusses xylem and phloem transport in a single volume, highlighting their interactions - Syntheses of structure, function and biology of vascular transport by leading authorities - Poses unsolved questions and stimulates future research - Provides a new conceptual framework for vascular function in plants

Author: P. Calow
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521320580
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Physiological ecology is concerned with the way that physiological traits fit organisms for the ecological circumstances in which they live, so there is always an implicit evolutionary component to it. This book is concerned with physiological studies that make the evolutionary considerations explicit. The first part explores physiological models that predict how, under different ecological pressures, resources should be invested in such metabolic processes as costs of maintenance, growth patterns and allometries, ageing and physiological adaptability. In the context of the integrated metabolism of whole organisms, the second part of the volume considers aspects of the physiological ecology of specific organisms. The underlying theme of these chapters is the link between genotype and physiological phenotype.