Vertebrate Life

For courses in Vertebrate Zoology, Vertebrate Biology Function, and Paleontology

Widely praised for its comprehensive coverage and exceptionally clear writing style, this best-selling text explores how the anatomy, physiology, ecology, and behavior of animals interact to produce organisms that function effectively in their environments and how lineages of organisms change through evolutionary time. The Ninth Edition features dozens of new figures and photos, new end-of-chapter discussion questions, thoroughly updated information from molecular data and evolutionary development, and expanded discussions on the conservation status of vertebrates, including new information on the effects of global climate change.

Sommario

I. VERTEBRATE DIVERSITY, FUNCTION, AND EVOLUTION
 1. The Diversity, Classification, and Evolution of Vertebrates
 2. Vertebrate Relationships and Basic Structure
 3. Early Vertebrates: Jawless Vertebrates and the Origin of Jawed Vertebrates
 
II. NON-AMNIOTIC VERTEBRATES: FISHES AND AMPHIBIANS
 4. Living in Water
 5. Radiation of the Chondrichthyes
 6. Dominating Life in Water: The Major Radiation of Fishes
 7. Geography and Ecology of the Paleozoic Era
 8. Living on Land
 9. Origin and Radiation of Tetrapods
10. Salamanders, Anurans, and Caecilians
 
III. SAUROSPIDA: TURTLES, LEPIDOSAURS, AND ARCHOSAURS
11. Synapsids and Sauropsids: Two Approaches to Terrestrial Life
12. Turtles
13. The Lepidosaurs: Tuatara, Lizards, and Snakes
14. Ectothermy: A Low-Cost Approach to Life
15. Geography and Ecology of the Mesozoic Era
16. Mesozoic Diapsids: Dinosaurs, Crocodilians, Birds, and Others
17. Avian Specializations
 
IV. SYNAPSIDA: THE MAMMALS
18. The Synapsida and the Evolution of Mammals
19. Geography and Ecology of the Cenozoic Era
20. Mammalian Diversity and Characteristics
21. Mammalian Specializations
22. Endothermy: A High-Energy Approach to Life
23. Body Size, Ecology, and Sociality of Mammals
24. Primate Evolution and the Emergence of Humans
25. The Impact of Humans on Other Species of Vertebrates

Info autore

F. Harvey Pough began his biological career at the age of fourteen when he and his sister studied the growth and movements of a population of eastern painted turtles in Rhode Island. His research now focuses on organismal biology, blending physiology, morphology, behavior, and ecology in an evolutionary perspective. Undergraduate students regularly participate in his research, and are coauthors of many of his publications. He especially enjoys teaching undergraduates and has taught courses in vertebrate zoology, functional ecology, herpetology, environmental physiology, and the organismal biology of humans. Currently he is teaching a year-long introductory biology course. He has published more than a hundred papers reporting the results of field and laboratory studies of turtles, snakes, lizards, frogs, and tuatara that have taken him to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, and the Caribbean as well as most parts of the United States. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Past-President of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists.

Riassunto

For courses in Vertebrate Zoology, Vertebrate Biology Function, and Paleontology
 
Widely praised for its comprehensive coverage and exceptionally clear writing style, this best-selling text explores how the anatomy, physiology, ecology, and behavior of animals interact to produce organisms that function effectively in their environments and how lineages of organisms change through evolutionary time. The Ninth Edition features dozens of new figures and photos, new end-of-chapter discussion questions, thoroughly updated information from molecular data and evolutionary development, and expanded discussions on the conservation status of vertebrates, including new information on the effects of global climate change.

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: John B. Heiser, Christine M. Janis, F. Harvey Pough
• Editore: Pearson Academic
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Pubblicazione: 01.01.2012
• EAN: 9780321773364
• ISBN: 978-0-321-77336-4
• Pagine: 720
• Peso: 1310 g
• Serie: Benjamin Cummin; Benjamin Cummin
• Categoria: Scienze naturali, medicina, informatica, tecnica > Biologia > Zoologia