Download or read book Tetrapod Water Land Transition Reconstructing Soft Tissue Anatomy and Function written by Julia L. Molnar and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2022-08-18 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Consciousness Transitions written by Hans Liljenström and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2011-10-13 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was not long ago when the consciousness was not considered a problem for science. However, this has now changed and the problem of consciousness is considered the greatest challenge to science. In the last decade, a great number of books and articles have been published in the field, but very few have focused on the how consciousness evolves and develops, and what characterizes the transitions between different conscious states, in animals and humans. This book addresses these questions. Renowned researchers from different fields of science (including neurobiology, evolutionary biology, ethology, cognitive science, computational neuroscience and philosophy) contribute with their results and theories in this book, making it a unique collection of the state-of-the-art of this young field of consciousness studies. First book on the topic Focus on different levels of consciousness, including: Evolutionary, developmental, and functional Highly interdisciplinary

Download or read book Evolution and Development of Fishes written by Zerina Johanson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-10 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World-class palaeontologists and biologists summarise the state-of-the-art on fish evolution and development.

Download or read book Heads Jaws and Muscles written by Janine M. Ziermann and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-01-23 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The vertebrate head is the most complex part of the animal body and its diversity in nature reflects a variety of life styles, feeding modes, and ecological adaptations. This book will take you on a journey to discover the origin and diversification of the head, which evolved from a seemingly headless chordate ancestor. Despite their structural diversity, heads develop in a highly conserved fashion in embryos. Major sensory organs like the eyes, ears, nose, and brain develop in close association with surrounding tissues such as bones, cartilages, muscles, nerves, and blood vessels. Ultimately, this integrated unit of tissues gives rise to the complex functionality of the musculoskeletal system as a result of sensory and neural feedback, most notably in the use of the vertebrate jaws, a major vertebrate innovation only lacking in hagfishes and lampreys. The cranium subsequently further diversified during the major transition from fishes living in an aquatic environment to tetrapods living mostly on land. In this book, experts will join forces to integrate, for the first time, state-of-the-art knowledge on the anatomy, development, function, diversity, and evolution of the head and jaws and their muscles within all major groups of extant vertebrates. Considerations about and comparisons with fossil taxa, including emblematic groups such as the dinosaurs, are also provided in this landmark book, which will be a leading reference for many years to come.

Download or read book Amphibian Evolution written by Rainer R. Schoch and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-03-19 with total page 564 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the first vertebrates to conquer land and their long journey to become fully independent from the water. It traces the origin of tetrapod features and tries to explain how and why they transformed into organs that permit life on land. Although the major frame of the topic lies in the past 370 million years and necessarily deals with many fossils, it is far from restricted to paleontology. The aim is to achieve a comprehensive picture of amphibian evolution. It focuses on major questions in current paleobiology: how diverse were the early tetrapods? In which environments did they live, and how did they come to be preserved? What do we know about the soft body of extinct amphibians, and what does that tell us about the evolution of crucial organs during the transition to land? How did early amphibians develop and grow, and which were the major factors of their evolution? The Topics in Paleobiology Series is published in collaboration with the Palaeontological Association, and is edited by Professor Mike Benton, University of Bristol. Books in the series provide a summary of the current state of knowledge, a trusted route into the primary literature, and will act as pointers for future directions for research. As well as volumes on individual groups, the series will also deal with topics that have a cross-cutting relevance, such as the evolution of significant ecosystems, particular key times and events in the history of life, climate change, and the application of a new techniques such as molecular palaeontology. The books are written by leading international experts and will be pitched at a level suitable for advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, and researchers in both the paleontological and biological sciences.

Download or read book Feeding written by Kurt Schwenk and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2000-08-03 with total page 555 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the first four-legged vertebrates, called tetrapods, crept up along the shores of ancient primordial seas, feeding was among the most paramount of their concerns. Looking back into the mists of evolutionary time, fish-like ancestors can be seen transformed by natural selection and other evolutionary pressures into animals with feeding habitats as varied as an anteater and a whale. From frog to pheasant and salamander to snake, every lineage of tetrapods has evolved unique feeding anatomy and behavior.Similarities in widely divergent tetrapods vividly illustrate their shared common ancestry. At the same time, numerous differences between and among tetrapods document the power and majesty that comprises organismal evolutionary history.Feeding is a detailed survey of the varied ways that land vertebrates acquire food. The functional anatomy and the control of complex and dynamic structural components are recurrent themes of this volume. Luminaries in the discipline of feeding biology have joined forces to create a book certain to stimulate future studies of animal anatomy and behavior.

Download or read book Feeding in Vertebrates written by Vincent Bels and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-04-23 with total page 865 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides students and researchers with reviews of biological questions related to the evolution of feeding by vertebrates in aquatic and terrestrial environments. Based on recent technical developments and novel conceptual approaches, the book covers functional questions on trophic behavior in nearly all vertebrate groups including jawless fishes. The book describes mechanisms and theories for understanding the relationships between feeding structure and feeding behavior. Finally, the book demonstrates the importance of adopting an integrative approach to the trophic system in order to understand evolutionary mechanisms across the biodiversity of vertebrates.

Download or read book Your Inner Fish written by Neil Shubin and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2008-01-15 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The paleontologist and professor of anatomy who co-discovered Tiktaalik, the “fish with hands,” tells a “compelling scientific adventure story that will change forever how you understand what it means to be human” (Oliver Sacks). By examining fossils and DNA, he shows us that our hands actually resemble fish fins, our heads are organized like long-extinct jawless fish, and major parts of our genomes look and function like those of worms and bacteria. Your Inner Fish makes us look at ourselves and our world in an illuminating new light. This is science writing at its finest—enlightening, accessible and told with irresistible enthusiasm.

Download or read book Physiological and Ecological Adaptations to Feeding in Vertebrates written by J. Matthias Starck and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Responding to recent interest in the gastrointestinal tract as a model for studies in physiological and ecological adaptation to fluctuating environmental conditions, this collection summarizes the current state of knowledge from an integrative perspective. The contributors come from the fields of comparative morphology, nutritional physiology, eco

Download or read book Evolutionary Biology of Primitive Fishes written by R. E. Foreman and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What, precisely, is a primitive fish? Most biologists would agree that the living cyclostomes, selachians, crossopterygians, etc. cannot be considered truly primitive. However, they and the fossil record have served to provide the information which forms the basis for speculation concerning the nature of the original vertebrates. This symposium of biologists from a variety of disciplines was called together to create collectively, from the best available current evidence, a picture of the probable line of evolution of the prototype primitive fishes. The symposium was designed to follow one that took place in Stockholm in 1967, convened for a similar purpose, with about the same number of participants. It is a matter of interest that almost the entire 1967 symposium (Nobel Symposium 4) dealt only with the hard tissues, whether fossil or modern. In charting the course of the present symposium it was felt that the intervening years have produced numerous lines of new evidence that could be employed in the same way that a navigator determines his position. Each field, be it adult morphology, geology, ecology, biochemistry, development or physiology, generates evidence that can be extrapolated backward from existing vertebrate forms and forward from invertebrate forms. If the intersect of only two lines of evidence produces a navigational "fix" of rather low reliability, then an intersect, however unfocussed, of multiple guidelines from more numerous disciplines might provide a better position from which to judge early vertebrate history.

Download or read book Atlas of Terrestrial Mammal Limbs written by Christine Böhmer and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2020-04-03 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Atlas of Terrestrial Mammal Limbs is the first comprehensive and detailed anatomy book on a broad phylogenetic and ecological range of mammals. This extraordinary new work features more than 400 photographs and illustrations visualizing the limb musculature of 28 different species. Standardized views of the dissected bodies and concise text descriptions make it easy to compare the anatomy across different taxa. It provides tables of nomenclature and comparative muscle maps (schematic drawings on the origins and insertions of the muscles onto bones) in a diversity of animals. Atlas of Terrestrial Mammal Limbs is a reliable reference and an indispensable volume for all students and professional researchers in biology, paleontology, and veterinary medicine. Key Features: Provides an overview of the anatomy of the mammalian limb Includes osteological correlates of the limb muscles Illustrates anatomy in 2D Guides dissection Documents anatomical diversity in mammalian limbs Related Titles: D. L. France. Human and Nonhuman Bone Identification: A Color Atlas. (ISBN 978-1-4200-6286-1) S. N. Byers. Forensic Anthropology Laboratory Manual, 4th Edition (ISBN 978-1-1386-9073-8) S. N. Byers. Introduction to Forensic Anthropology, 5th Edition (ISBN 978-1-1381-8884-6) R. Diogo, et al. Muscles of Chordates: Development, Homologies, and Evolution (ISBN 978-1-1385-7116-7)

Download or read book Understanding Evolution written by Kostas Kampourakis and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-03 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing together conceptual obstacles and core concepts of evolutionary theory, this book presents evolution as straightforward and intuitive.

Download or read book Air Breathing Fishes written by Jeffrey B. Graham and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 1997-07-04 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Air Breathing Fishes: Evolution, Diversity, and Adaptation is unique in its coverage of the evolution of air-breathing, incongruously because it focuses exclusively on fish. This important and fascinating book, containing nine chapters that present the life history, ecology, and physiology of many air-breathing fishes, provides an exceptional overview of air-breathing biology. Each chapter provides a historical background, details the present status of knowledge in the field, and defines the questions needing attention in future research. Thoroughly referenced, containing more than 1,000 citations, and well documented with figures and tables, Air-Breathing Fishes is comprehensive in its coverage and will certainly have wide appeal. Researchers in vertebrate biology, paleontology, ichthyology, vertebrate evolution, natural history, comparative physiology, anatomy and many other fields will find something new and intriguing in Air-Breathing Fishes. Offers a complete overview of an important and immensely interesting area of research Provides a perspective of air-breathing fish that spans 300 million years of vertebrate evolution Contains numerous illustrations as well as comprehensive charts Provides a synoptic treatment of all the known air-breathing species with important data on their morphological and physiological adaptations

Download or read book Evolution of the Vertebrate Ear written by Jennifer A. Clack and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-12-21 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The evolution of vertebrate hearing is of considerable interest in the hearing community. However, there has never been a volume that has focused on the paleontological evidence for the evolution of hearing and the ear, especially from the perspective of some of the leading paleontologists and evolutionary biologists in the world. Thus, this volume is totally unique, and takes a perspective that has never been taken before. It brings to the fore some of the most recent discoveries among fossil taxa, which have demonstrated the sort of detailed information that can be derived from the fossil record, illuminating the evolutionary pathways this sensory system has taken and the diversity it had achieved.

Download or read book The Vertebrate IntegumentVolume 1 written by Theagarten Lingham-Soliar and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2014-02-18 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The vertebrate integument arose about 450 million years ago as an ‘armour’ of dermal bony plates in small, jawless fish-like creatures, informally known as the ostracoderms. This book reviews the major changes that have occurred in the vertebrate integument from its beginnings to the present day. Critical questions concerning the origin, structure and functional biology of the bony integument are discussed and intrinsically linked to major steps in vertebrate evolution and phylogeny—the origin of jaws and the origin of teeth. The discussions include the origins of mineralization of major vertebrate skeletal components such as the dermatocranium, branchial arches and vertebral column. The advances that led to the origin of modern fishes and their phylogenetic development are reviewed and include the evolution of fins and replacement of the bony plates with several types of dermal scales. The evolution of reptiles saw a major transformation of the integument, with the epidermis becoming the protective outermost layer, from which the scales arose, while the dermis lay below it. The biological significance of the newly-evolved β-keratin in reptilian scales, among the toughest natural materials known, is discussed in the context of its major contribution to the great success of reptiles and to the evolution of feathers and avian flight. The dermis in many vertebrates is strengthened by layers of oppositely oriented cross-fibres, now firmly entrenched as a design principle of biomechanics. Throughout the book conventional ideas are discussed and a number of new hypotheses are presented in light of the latest developments. The long evolutionary history of vertebrates indicates that the significance of the Darwinian concept of “survival of the fittest” may be overstated, including in our own mammalian origins and that chance often plays a major role in evolutionary patterns. Extensive illustrations are included to support the verbal descriptions. Professor Theagarten Lingham-Soliar is in the Department of Life Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Download or read book Biology of the Sauropod Dinosaurs written by Nichole Klein and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-22 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sauropods, those huge plant-eating dinosaurs, possessed bodies that seem to defy every natural law. What were these creatures like as living animals and how could they reach such uniquely gigantic sizes? A dedicated group of researchers in Germany in disciplines ranging from engineering and materials science to animal nutrition and paleontology went in search of the answers to these questions. Biology of the Sauropod Dinosaurs reports on the latest results from this seemingly disparate group of research fields and integrates them into a coherent theory regarding sauropod gigantism. Covering nutrition, physiology, growth, and skeletal structure and body plans, this volume presents the most up-to-date knowledge about the biology of these enormous dinosaurs.

Download or read book Devonian Events and Correlations written by R. T. Becker and published by Geological Society of London. This book was released on 2007 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Devonian was a peculiar period, characterized by simplified plate tectonic configurations, climatic overheating and widely flooded continents. The bloom of fishes and ammonoids, extensive reef complexes, and the conquest of land indicate major biosphere innovations, punctuated by many global events, including two of the biggest mass extinctions. The Devonian was the first system for which subdivisions were formally defined. This was achieved by significant advances in pelagic biostratigraphy. The chronostratigraphic framework and interdisciplinary techniques allow us to correlate intervals or sudden events across facies boundaries, in order to reconstruct the sedimentary and evolutionary history of the system with highest precision. This volume honors the lifetime stratigraphic achievements of Michael Robert House (1930-2002). Based on case studies from Europe, North Africa and North America, it shows how the combination of biostratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy and event stratigraphy can contribute to a much deeper understanding of both regional and global environmental change.