Download or read book How nature shaped echolocation in animals written by Mariana L Melcón and published by Frontiers E-books. This book was released on 2014-11-24 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Echolocation has evolved in different groups of animals, from bats and cetaceans to birds and humans, and enables localization and tracking of objects in a dynamic environment, where light levels may be very low or absent. Nature has shaped echolocation, an active sense that engages audiomotor feedback systems, which operates in diverse environments and situations. Echolocation production and perception vary across species, and signals are often adapted to the environment and task. In the last several decades, researchers have been studying the echolocation behavior of animals, both in the air and underwater, using different methodologies and perspectives. The result of these studies has led to rich knowledge on sound production mechanisms, directionality of the sound beam, signal design, echo reception and perception. Active control over echolocation signal production and the mechanisms for echo processing ultimately provide animals with an echoic scene or image of their surroundings. Sonar signal features directly influence the information available for the echolocating animal to perceive images of its environment. In many echolocating animals, the information processed through echoes elicits a reaction in motor systems, including adjustments in subsequent echolocation signals. We are interested in understanding how echolocating animals deal with different environments (e.g. clutter, light levels), tasks, distance to targets or objects, different prey types or other food sources, presence of conspecifics or certain predators, ambient and anthropogenic noise. In recent years, some researchers have presented new data on the origins of echolocation, which can provide a hint of its evolution. Theoreticians have addressed several issues that bear on echolocation systems, such as frequency or time resolution, target localization and beam-forming mechanisms. In this Research Topic we compiled recent work that elucidates how echolocation – from sound production, through echolocation signals to perception- has been shaped by nature functioning in different environments and situations. We strongly encouraged comparative approaches that would deepen our understanding of the processes comprising this active sense.
Download or read book How Nature Shaped Echolocation in Animals written by and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Echolocation has evolved in different groups of animals, from bats and cetaceans to birds and humans, and enables localization and tracking of objects in a dynamic environment, where light levels may be very low or absent. Nature has shaped echolocation, an active sense that engages audiomotor feedback systems, which operates in diverse environments and situations. Echolocation production and perception vary across species, and signals are often adapted to the environment and task. In the last several decades, researchers have been studying the echolocation behavior of animals, both in the air and underwater, using different methodologies and perspectives. The result of these studies has led to rich knowledge on sound production mechanisms, directionality of the sound beam, signal design, echo reception and perception. Active control over echolocation signal production and the mechanisms for echo processing ultimately provide animals with an echoic scene or image of their surroundings. Sonar signal features directly influence the information available for the echolocating animal to perceive images of its environment. In many echolocating animals, the information processed through echoes elicits a reaction in motor systems, including adjustments in subsequent echolocation signals. We are interested in understanding how echolocating animals deal with different environments (e.g. clutter, light levels), tasks, distance to targets or objects, different prey types or other food sources, presence of conspecifics or certain predators, ambient and anthropogenic noise. In recent years, some researchers have presented new data on the origins of echolocation, which can provide a hint of its evolution. Theoreticians have addressed several issues that bear on echolocation systems, such as frequency or time resolution, target localization and beam-forming mechanisms. In this Research Topic we compiled recent work that elucidates how echolocation - from sound production, through echolocation signals to perception- has been shaped by nature functioning in different environments and situations. We strongly encouraged comparative approaches that would deepen our understanding of the processes comprising this active sense.
Download or read book Echolocation in Bats and Dolphins written by Jeanette A. Thomas and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 636 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although bats and dolphins live in very different environments, are vastly different in size, and hunt different kinds of prey, both groups have evolved similar sonar systems, known as echolocation, to locate food and navigate the skies and seas. While much research has been conducted over the past thirty years on echolocation in bats and dolphins, this volume is the first to compare what is known about echolocation in each group, to point out what information is missing, and to identify future areas of research. Echolocation in Bats and Dolphins consists of six sections: mechanisms of echolocation signal production; the anatomy and physiology of signal reception and interpretation; performance and cognition; ecological and evolutionary aspects of echolocation mammals; theoretical and methodological topics; and possible echolocation capabilities in other mammals, including shrews, seals, and baleen whales. Animal behaviorists, ecologists, physiologists, and both scientists and engineers who work in the field of bioacoustics will benefit from this book.
Download or read book Evolution Ecology and Conservation of Lorises and Pottos written by K. A. I. Nekaris and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-19 with total page 515 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book to present the latest discoveries on the behaviour, ecology and evolutionary biology of lorises and pottos.
Download or read book Animal Sonar Systems written by R. Busnel and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-29 with total page 1097 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thirteen years have gone by since the first international meet ing on Animal Sonar Systems was held in Frascati, Italy, in 1966. Since that time, almost 900 papers have been published on its theme. The first symposium was vital as it was the starting point for new research lines whose goal was to design and develop technological systems with properties approaching optimal biological systems. There have been highly significant developments since then in all domains related to biological sonar systems and in their appli cations to the engineering field. The time had therefore come for a multidisciplinary integration of the information gathered, not only on the evolution of systems used in animal echolocation, but on systems theory, behavior and neurobiology, signal-to-noise ratio, masking, signal processing, and measures observed in certain species against animal sonar systems. Modern electronics technology and systems theory which have been developed only since 1974 now allow designing sophisticated sonar and radar systems applying principles derived from biological systems. At the time of the Frascati meeting, integrated circuits and technol ogies exploiting computer science were not well enough developed to yield advantages now possible through use of real-time analysis, leading to, among other things, a definition of target temporal char acteristics, as biological sonar systems are able to do. All of these new technical developments necessitate close co operation between engineers and biologists within the framework of new experiments which have been designed, particularly in the past five years.
Download or read book Exploring Animal Behavior Through Sound Volume 1 written by Christine Erbe and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-10-03 with total page 524 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open-access book empowers its readers to explore the acoustic world of animals. By listening to the sounds of nature, we can study animal behavior, distribution, and demographics; their habitat characteristics and needs; and the effects of noise. Sound recording is an efficient and affordable tool, independent of daylight and weather; and recorders may be left in place for many months at a time, continuously collecting data on animals and their environment. This book builds the skills and knowledge necessary to collect and interpret acoustic data from terrestrial and marine environments. Beginning with a history of sound recording, the chapters provide an overview of off-the-shelf recording equipment and analysis tools (including automated signal detectors and statistical methods); audiometric methods; acoustic terminology, quantities, and units; sound propagation in air and under water; soundscapes of terrestrial and marine habitats; animal acoustic and vibrational communication; echolocation; and the effects of noise. This book will be useful to students and researchers of animal ecology who wish to add acoustics to their toolbox, as well as to environmental managers in industry and government.
Download or read book The Neural Basis of Echolocation in Bats written by George D. Pollak and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The brain of an echo locating bat is devoted, in large part, to analyzing sound and conducting behavior in a world of sounds and echoes. This monograph is about analysis of sound in the brainstem of echolocating bats and concerns the relationship between brain structure and brain function. Echolocating bats are unique subjects for the study of such relationships. Like man, echolocating bats emit sounds just for the purpose of listening to them. Simply by observing the bat's echolocation sounds, we know what the bat listens to in nature. We therefore have a good idea what the bat's auditory brain is designed to do. But this alone does not make the bat unique. The brain of the bat is, by mammalian standards, rather primitive. The unique aspect is the combination of primitive characteristics and complex auditory processing. Within this small brain the auditory structures are hypertrophied and have an elegance of organization not seen in other mammals. It is as if the auditory pathways had evolved while the rest of the brain remained evolutionary quiescent.
Download or read book Biosonar written by Annemarie Surlykke and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-07-19 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two groups of animals, bats and odontocetes (toothed whales), have independently developed the ability to orient and detect prey by biosonar (echolocation). This active mechanism of orientation allows these animals to operate under low light conditions. Biosonar is a conceptual overview of what is known about biosonar in bats and odontocetes. Chapters are written by bat and odontocetes experts, resulting in collaborations that not only examine data on both animals, but also compare and contrast mechanisms. This book provides a unique insight that will help improve our understanding of biosonar in both animal groups.
Download or read book Contingency and Convergence written by Russell Powell and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2020-02-25 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can we can use the patterns and processes of convergent evolution to make inferences about universal laws of life, on Earth and elsewhere? In this book, Russell Powell investigates whether we can use the patterns and processes of convergent evolution to make inferences about universal laws of life, on Earth and elsewhere. Weaving together disparate philosophical and empirical threads, Powell offers the first detailed analysis of the interplay between contingency and convergence in macroevolution, as it relates to both complex life in general and cognitively complex life in particular. If the evolution of mind is not a historical accident, the product of convergence rather than contingency, then, Powell asks, is mind likely to be an evolutionarily important feature of any living world? Stephen Jay Gould argued for the primacy of contingency in evolution. Gould's “radical contingency thesis” (RCT) has been challenged, but critics have largely failed to engage with its core claims and theoretical commitments. Powell fills this gap. He first examines convergent regularities at both temporal and phylogenetic depths, finding evidence that both vindicates and rebuffs Gould's argument for contingency. Powell follows this partial defense of the RCT with a substantive critique. Among the evolutionary outcomes that might defy the RCT, he argues, cognition is particularly important—not only for human-specific issues of the evolution of intelligence and consciousness but also for the large-scale ecological organization of macroscopic living worlds. Turning his attention to complex cognitive life, Powell considers what patterns of cognitive convergence tell us about the nature of mind, its evolution, and its place in the universe. If complex bodies are common in the universe, might complex minds be common as well?
Download or read book Naturalistic neuroscience towards a full cycle from lab to field written by Karen A. Mesce and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2023-09-06 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Biology in Physics written by Konstantin Bogdanov and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biology in Physics: Is Life Matter? is a radical new book which bridges the gap between biology and physics. The aim is to promote an interdisciplinary exchange of scientific information and ideas, in order to stimulate cooperation in research. The scope of this volume explores the concepts and techniques of biophysics, and illustrates the latest advances in our understanding of many of the specific mechanisms that are used by living organisms. This volume represents a special effort to bring together the information that would allow a nonbiologically oriented physicist to appreciate the important role that physics plays in life sciences. Key Features: An introduction to biophysics for non-specialist Covers all the important topices in modern biophysics Takes account of the latest information emerging from biophysical projects Reports on novel therapeutic strategies Presents an advanced-level overview of mechanisms that regulate a variety of processes in organisms ranging from bacterial to whales
Download or read book Handbook of Mammalian Vocalization written by Stefan M Brudzynski and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2009-12-08 with total page 551 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Handbook of Mammalian Vocalization is designed as a broad and comprehensive, but well-balanced book, written from the neuroscience point of view in the broad sense of this term. This well-illustrated Handbook pays particular attention to systematically organized details but also to the explanatory style of the text and internal cohesiveness of the content, so the successive chapters gradually develop a consistent story without losing the inherent complexity. Studies from many species are included, however rodents dominate, as most of the brain investigations were done on these species. The leading idea of the Handbook is that vocalizations evolved as highly adaptive specific signals, which are selectively picked up by the brain. The brain serves as a receptor and behavioural amplifier. Brain systems will be described, which allow vocal signals rapidly changing the entire state of the organism and trigger vital biological responses, usually also with accompanying emission of vocalizations. Integrative brain functions leading to vocal outcome will be described, along with the vocalization generators and motor output to larynx and other supportive motor subsystems. The last sections of the Handbook explains bioacoustic structure of vocalizations, present understanding of information coding, and origins of the complex semiotic/ semantic content of vocalizations in social mammals. The Handbook is a major source of information for professionals from many fields, with a neuroscience approach as a common denominator. The handbook provides consistent and unified understanding of all major aspects of vocalization in a monographic manner, and at the same time, gives an encyclopaedic overview of major topics associated with vocalization from molecular/ cellular level to behavior and cognitive processing. It is written in a strictly scientific way but clear enough to serve not only for specialized researchers in different fields of neuroscience but also for academic teachers of neuroscience, including behavioural neuroscience, affective neuroscience, clinical neuroscience, neuroethology, biopsychology, neurolingusitics, speech pathology, and other related fields, and also for research fellows, graduate and other advanced students, who widely need such a source publication. - The first comprehensive handbook on what we know about vocalization in Mammalians - Carefully edited, the handbook provides an integrated overview of the area - International list of highly regarded contributors, including Jaak Pankseep (Washington State University), David McFarland (Oxford), John D. Newman (NIH ? Unit on Developmental Neuroethology), Gerd Poeggel (Leipzig), Shiba Keisuke (Chiba City, Japan), and others, tightly edited by a single, well regarded editor who has edited a special issue in Behavioral Brain Research on the topic before
Download or read book The Neuroethology of Predation and Escape written by Keith T. Sillar and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2016-04-01 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The forces of natural selection have been a primary driver in the evolution of adaptive animal behaviours. On the one hand animals must evade predation in order to survive and pass on their genes; on other hand, and for the same underlying reasons, animals must also be capable of successfully capturing prey. This situation has led to an evolutionary arms race in which predator and prey are locked in the battle to survive. A common strategy in each situation is to enhance the speed of response, resulting in the evolution of neural, muscular and biomechanical designs that produce supremely fast and eye-catching behavioral responses. The aim of this book is to illuminate the design principles of escape and predatory behaviours using a series of case histories from different animal groups and to emphasize the convergent evolution of neural circuitry that optimizes the chances of survival. Using these case histories the authors describe sensory mechanisms that aid prey and predator detection, central neural circuit designs that increase speed of response and neuromuscular and biomechanical properties that aid the performance of escape and predatory movements.
Download or read book Biologically Inspired Radar and Sonar written by Alessio Balleri and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The following topics are dealt with: biologically-inspired radar; biologically-inspired sonar; biosonar-inspired signal processing; acoustic imaging; matched filter; air-coupled sonar systems; cognitive sensor; target tracking; human echolocation; polarization tensors and object recognition.
Download or read book Hearing by Whales and Dolphins written by Whitlow W.L. Au and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 499 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here, experts in different areas of the field provide an overview of the bioacoustics of whales and dolphins as well as a thorough introduction to the subject for investigators of hearing in other animals. Topics covered include the structure and function of cetacean auditory systems, the unique sound production system of odontocetes, acoustic communication, psychoacoustics, echolocation and models of sound propagation.
Download or read book The Sensory Modes of Animal Rhetorics written by Alex C. Parrish and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-07-14 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sensory Modes of Animal Rhetorics: A Hoot in the Light presents the latest research in animal perception and cognition in the context of rhetorical theory. Alex C. Parrish explores the science of animal signaling that shows human and nonhuman animals share similar rhetorical strategies—such as communicating to manipulate or persuade—which suggests the vast impact sensory modalities have on communication in nature. The book demonstrates new ways of seeing humans and how we have separated ourselves from, and subjectified, the animal rhetor. This type of cross-species study allows us to trace the origins of our own persuasive behaviors, providing a deeper and more inclusive history of rhetoric than ever before.
Download or read book An Immense World written by Ed Yong and published by Random House. This book was released on 2022-06-21 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “thrilling” (The New York Times), “dazzling” (The Wall Street Journal) tour of the radically different ways that animals perceive the world that will fill you with wonder and forever alter your perspective, by Pulitzer Prize–winning science journalist Ed Yong “One of this year’s finest works of narrative nonfiction.”—Oprah Daily ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Time, People, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Slate, Reader’s Digest, Chicago Public Library, Outside, Publishers Weekly, BookPage ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Oprah Daily, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Economist, Smithsonian Magazine, Prospect (UK), Globe & Mail, Esquire, Mental Floss, Marginalian, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every kind of animal, including humans, is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of our immense world. In An Immense World, Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us. We encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth’s magnetic fields, fish that fill rivers with electrical messages, and even humans who wield sonar like bats. We discover that a crocodile’s scaly face is as sensitive as a lover’s fingertips, that the eyes of a giant squid evolved to see sparkling whales, that plants thrum with the inaudible songs of courting bugs, and that even simple scallops have complex vision. We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street. We listen to stories of pivotal discoveries in the field, while looking ahead at the many mysteries that remain unsolved. Funny, rigorous, and suffused with the joy of discovery, An Immense World takes us on what Marcel Proust called “the only true voyage . . . not to visit strange lands, but to possess other eyes.” WINNER OF THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL • FINALIST FOR THE KIRKUS PRIZE • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD • LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/E.O. WILSON AWARD
