| Author: | Pat Willmer, Graham Stone & Ian Johnston |
| Release at: | 2005 |
| Pages: | 779 |
| Edition: | 2nd Edition |
| Language: | English |
Description of Environmental Physiology of Animals 2nd Edition
Environmental Physiology of Animals 2nd Edition by Pat Willmer, Graham Stone & Ian Johnston is a great book for study. The first edition of this book found a useful place in many libraries and on the shelves of teachers and students as a text for a wide range of undergraduate courses, and we are glad that our targeted market found it readable, interesting and suitably up-to-date in its approach. Our general aim of integrating animal physiology into a more holistic approach, one that includes both an ecological setting and an appreciation of the range of behavioral responses open to individual animals before specific physiological responses need to come into play, has clearly met a need and found a receptive audience.
However, we met with two general criticisms that, although not aimed at the content or the written style, were enough to put off some of the potential users. Firstly, many readers while appreciating the consistent style of illustration found the book visually rather dull. We have been able to address that in this second edition by adding a colour to the production, making the figures both clearer and we hope more attractive. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, many lecturers reported that they could not adopt this book as their core text for physiology courses because of the omission of material on excitable tissues and control systems. Leaving these topics out of the original book was a conscious decision designed to retain the strongly environmental flavour of the treatmentaafter all nerves, muscle and hormones are not inherently very variable between different habitats. Furthermore there are excellent treatments of nerve and muscle available at suitable levels in existing books on neurobiology.
This new edition will therefore provide a core text for students taking a wide range of physiological modules in colleges and universities, and it should also serve as a useful reference for many lecturers striving to keep updated on the interactions of animal physiology with their own related areas of ecology, behavior and environmental Biology.
Content of Environmental Physiology of Animals 2nd Edition
PART 1: BASIC PRINCIPLES
Chapter 1: The Nature and Levels of Adaptation
Chapter 2: Fundamental Mechanisms of Adaptation
Chapter 3: The Problems of Size and Scale
PART 2: CENTRAL ISSUES IN COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY
Chapter 4: Water, Ions, and Osmotic Physiology
Chapter 5: Animal Water Balance, Osmoregulation, and Excretion
Chapter 6: Metabolism and Energy Supply
Chapter 7: Respiration and Circulation
Chapter 8: Temperature and its Effects
Chapter 9: Excitable Tissues: Nervous Systems and Muscles
Chapter 10: Hormones and Chemical Control Systems
PART 3: COPING WITH THE ENVIRONMENT
Chapter 11: Marine Life
Chapter 12: Shorelines and Estuaries
Chapter 13: Fresh Water
Chapter 14: Special Aquatic Habitats
Chapter 15: Terrestrial Life
Chapter 16: Extreme Terrestrial Habitats
Chapter 17: Parasitic Habitats
Index
0 comments: