Subterranean life exists within an extraordinary environment and has evolved among different groups of mammals all over the globe. With relatively constant temperature, few opportunities to meet organisms other than the immediate family, and a completely different sensory environment, the evolution of such life is fascinating. Locomotion, communication, food-finding, navigation, circadian rhythms, and indeed the whole of the animals' physiology may be specialized to cope with life underground. And from burrowing to blindness, magnetic communication to the weird bee-like eusociality of blind mole rats, specialization has been extreme and has led to speciation in a whole range of new contexts. That the subterranean way of life occurs in different species of mammals across the globe has provided scientists with one of nature's best studied global evolutionary demonstrations of adaptive radiation and speciation. The revolution in molecular biology that has occurred over the last ten years has massively expanded these horizons, allowing scientists to explore, map, and clone the genes underlying the basis of adaptation and speciation and translate their fascinating structural and functional evolution into genes and genomic language. This book draws together the burgeoning literature about all aspects of the biology of subterranean mammals. Beginning with their evolutionary history and the processes that led to the subterranean way of life, the author reviews ecology, behavior, and physiology within the context of the highly stressful subterranean context, considers the specialization that has evolved in response, and then compares the eleven families of extant subterranean mammals. The incredible circumstances surrounding subterranean mammals present a unique, global, 'natural experiment' in evolution that has implications throughout biology. As such, this broad survey will stand as an invaluable reference to evolutionary biologists, ecologists, and molecular biologists for years to come.

Subterranean Rodents presents achievements from recent years of research on these rodents, divided into five sections: ecophysiology; sensory ecology; life histories, behavioural ecology and demography; environmental and economical impact; molecular ecology and evolution. It is a must for all researchers working in this field and will be of interest to zoologists, physiologists, morphologists, ecologists, and evolutionary biologists.

This book brings together most of the information available concerning two species that diverged 2-3 million years ago. The objective was to try to understand why two sibling species so similar in several characteristics can be so different in others. To this end, it was crucial to confront all data from their ecology and biogeography with their behavior and DNA polymorphism. Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans are among the two sibling species for which a large set of data is available. In this book, ecologists, physiologists, geneticists, behaviorists share their data on the two sibling species, and several scenarios of evolution are put forward to explain their similarities and divergences. This is the first collection of essays of its kind. It is not the final point of the analyses of these two species since several areas remain obscure. However, the recent publication of the complete genome of D. melanogaster opens new fields for research. This will probably help us explain why D. melanogaster and D. simulans are sibling species but false friends.

Long ago, fish fins evolved into the limbs of land vertebrates and tetrapods. During this transition, some elements of the fin were carried over while new features developed. Lizard limbs, bird wings, and human arms and legs are therefore all evolutionary modifications of the original tetrapod limb. A comprehensive look at the current state of research on fin and limb evolution and development, this volume addresses a wide range of subjects—including growth, structure, maintenance, function, and regeneration. Divided into sections on evolution, development, and transformations, the book begins with a historical introduction to the study of fins and limbs and goes on to consider the evolution of limbs into wings as well as adaptations associated with specialized modes of life, such as digging and burrowing. Fins into Limbs also discusses occasions when evolution appears to have been reversed—in whales, for example, whose front limbs became flippers when they reverted to the water—as well as situations in which limbs are lost, such as in snakes. With contributions from world-renowned researchers, Fins into Limbs will be a font for further investigations in the changing field of evolutionary developmental biology.

In this complete and thorough update of Arthur Boucot's seminal work, Evolutionary Paleobiology of Behavior and Coevolution, Boucot is joined by George Poinar, who provides additional expertise and knowledge on protozoans and bacteria as applied to disease. Together, they make the Fossil Behavior Compendium wider in scope, covering all relevant ani

The 7-volume Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, Second Edition maintains the reputation of the highly regarded original, presenting the most current information available in this globally crucial area of research and study. It brings together the dimensions of biodiversity and examines both the services it provides and the measures to protect it. Major themes of the work include the evolution of biodiversity, systems for classifying and defining biodiversity, ecological patterns and theories of biodiversity, and an assessment of contemporary patterns and trends in biodiversity. The science of biodiversity has become the science of our future. It is an interdisciplinary field spanning areas of both physical and life sciences. Our awareness of the loss of biodiversity has brought a long overdue appreciation of the magnitude of this loss and a determination to develop the tools to protect our future. Second edition includes over 100 new articles and 226 updated articles covering this multidisciplinary field— from evolution to habits to economics, in 7 volumes The editors of this edition are all well respected, instantly recognizable academics operating at the top of their respective fields in biodiversity research; readers can be assured that they are reading material that has been meticulously checked and reviewed by experts Approximately 1,800 figures and 350 tables complement the text, and more than 3,000 glossary entries explain key terms

Oliver P. Pearson’s studies on mammalian biology remain standard reading for ecologists, physiologists, taxonomists, and biogeographers. Reflecting this, the papers gathered here continue to expand our understanding of the ecology and evolution of subterranean mammals, and of ecology, taxonomy, and biogeography of Neotropical mammals, a group that was central to the latter half of Pearson’s career.

Rodent Societies synthesizes and integrates the current state of knowledge about the social behavior of rodents, providing ecological and evolutionary contexts for understanding their societies and highlighting emerging conservation and management strategies to preserve them. It begins with a summary of the evolution, phylogeny, and biogeography of social and nonsocial rodents, providing a historical basis for comparative analyses. Subsequent sections focus on group-living rodents and characterize their reproductive behaviors, life histories and population ecology, genetics, neuroendocrine mechanisms, behavioral development, cognitive processes, communication mechanisms, cooperative and uncooperative behaviors, antipredator strategies, comparative socioecology, diseases, and conservation. Using the highly diverse and well-studied Rodentia as model systems to integrate a variety of research approaches and evolutionary theory into a unifying framework, Rodent Societies will appeal to a wide range of disciplines, both as a compendium of current research and as a stimulus for future collaborative and interdisciplinary investigations.