Sensory Evolution on the Threshold

Sensory Evolution on the Threshold
Author: J. G. M. Hans Thewissen
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2008-02-04
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0520934121

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From crocodiles and penguins to seals and whales, this comprehensive and authoritative synthesis explores the function and evolution of sensory systems in animals whose ancestors lived on land. Together, the contributors explore the dramatic transformation of smell, taste, sight, hearing, balance, mechanoreception, magnetoreception, and electroreception that occurred as lineages of amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals returned to aquatic environments. Each chapter integrates data from fields including sensory physiology, anatomy, paleontology, and neurobiology. A one-stop source for information on the sense organs of secondarily aquatic tetrapods, Sensory Evolution on the Threshold sheds new light on both the evolution of aquatic vertebrates and the sensory biology of their astonishing transition.

Vertebrate Adaptations

Vertebrate Adaptations
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 368
Release: 1969
Genre: Adaptation (Biology)
ISBN:

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Vertebrate Flight

Vertebrate Flight
Author: Ulla M. Norberg
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3642838480

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It has been great fun to write this book, even though it has taken longer than planned, and occasionally been exasperating. The most difficult problem was deciding what to exclude among so many interesting things, because the available material usually exceeded the space. Because a book like this covers so many aspects, each component must be limited. This book is intended for graduate and undergraduate students as well as professional scientists who want to work with animal flight or to gain some insight into flight mechanics, aerodynamics, energetics, physiology, morpho logy, ecology and evolution. My aim has not been to give the whole mathe matical explanation of flight, but to provide an outline and summary of the main theories for the understanding of how aerofoils respond to an airflow. I also hope to give the reader some insight into how flight morphology and the various wing shapes have evolved and are adapted to different ecological niches and habitats.

Organic Evolution

Organic Evolution
Author: Richard Swann Lull
Publisher:
Total Pages: 812
Release: 1920
Genre: Evolution
ISBN:

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Movement And Locomotion In Animals

Movement And Locomotion In Animals
Author: A. Kumar
Publisher: Discovery Publishing House
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2003
Genre: Animal locomotion
ISBN: 9788171417339

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Movement and locomotion are collectively called the biomechanics, which is the science that brings Biology and mechanical engineering together. It is the liveliest and most fascinating branch and deals with the study of animal locomotion: how birds fly and fishes swim, how slugs crawl, how legged animal (and people) run, and much else besides. The bewildering variety of styles of movement used by creatures ranging in size from amoeba to whales presents innumerable challenges to biomechanicists.

Evolutionary Biology 8/e

Evolutionary Biology 8/e
Author: Singh
Publisher: Rastogi Publications
Total Pages: 392
Release:
Genre:
ISBN: 9788171336395

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Vertebrates--adaptation

Vertebrates--adaptation
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1980
Genre: Adaptation (Biology)
ISBN:

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Flight of Mammals: From Terrestrial Limbs to Wings

Flight of Mammals: From Terrestrial Limbs to Wings
Author: Aleksandra A. Panyutina
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015-04-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9783319087559

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This book offers a new explanation for the development of flight in mammals and offers detailed morphological descriptions of mammals with flapping flight. The skeletomuscular apparatus of the shoulder girdle and forelimbs of tree shrews, flying lemurs and bats is described in detail. Special attention is paid to the recognition of peculiar features of the skeleton and joints. For the basic locomotor patterns of flying lemurs and bats, the kinematic models of the shoulder girdle elements are developed. The most important locomotor postures of these animals are analyzed by means of statics. The key structural characters of the shoulder girdle and forelimbs of flying lemurs and bats, the formation of which provided transition of mammals from terrestrial locomotion to gliding and then, to flapping flight, are recognized. The concept is proposed that preadaptations preceding the acquisition of flapping flight could have come from widely sprawled forelimb posture while gliding from tree to tree and running up the thick trunks. It is shown that flying lemur is an adequate morphofunctional model for an ancestral stage of bats. The evolutionary ecomorphological scenario describing probable transformational stages of typical parasagittal limbs of chiropteran ancestors into wings is developed.