Temperature is one facet in the mosaic of physical and biotic factors that describes the niche of an animal. Ofthe physical factors it is ecologically the most important. for it is a factor that is all-pervasive and one that. in most environments. lacks spatial or temporal constancy. Evolution has produced a wide variety of adaptive strategies and tactics to exploit or deal with this variable environmental factor. The ease with which temperature can be measured. and controlled experimentally. together with its widespread influence on the affairs of animals. has understandably led to a large. dispersed literature. In spite of this no recent book provides a comprehensive treatment of the biology of animals in relation to temperature. Our intention in writing this book was to fill that gap. We hope we have provided a modern statement with a critical synthesis of this diverse field. which will be suitable and stimulating for both advanced undergraduate and post graduate students of biology. This book is emphatically not intended as a monographical review. as thermal biology is such a diverse. developed discipline that it could not be encompassed within the confines of a book of this size.

How do mammals manage to maintain their body temperature within the same narrow range in environments as different as polar regions and hot deserts? This advanced text describes the morphological features and physiological mechanisms by which humans and other mammals maintain their body temperature within a narrow range despite large variations in climatic conditions and internal heat production. Its 19 chapters deal with the physics of heat exchange with the environment, and the autonomic and behavioural mechanisms available to control the loss and production of heat. The neuronal basis of temperature regulation and current concepts of the central nervous interface between temperature signals generated in the body and control mechanisms are examined in detail. This book is of invaluable help for undergraduates, postgraduates, teachers, physicians and scientists.

*A New York Times Editor's Choice pick *Shortlisted for the 2022 Pacific Northwest Book Awards A beloved natural historian explores how climate change is driving evolution In Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid, biologist Thor Hanson tells the remarkable story of how plants and animals are responding to climate change: adjusting, evolving, and sometimes dying out. Anole lizards have grown larger toe pads, to grip more tightly in frequent hurricanes. Warm waters cause the development of Humboldt squid to alter so dramatically that fishermen mistake them for different species. Brown pelicans move north, and long-spined sea urchins south, to find cooler homes. And when coral reefs sicken, they leave no territory worth fighting for, so aggressive butterfly fish transform instantly into pacifists. A story of hope, resilience, and risk, Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid is natural history for readers of Bernd Heinrich, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and David Haskell. It is also a reminder of how unpredictable climate change is as it interacts with the messy lattice of life.

With the help of extensive data tables and figures, this book explains the key facets of rodent thermal physiology, including neurological control and gender and intraspecies variations. The book should therefore find use in government, academic or industrial laboratories whose researchers are working with rodents.

Organisms are continually challenged to regulate and maintain functional capacities as their thermal environment changes. Adjustment to temperature change is evident both phenotypically in individual organisms and genotypically in the evolution of species. This volume addresses thermal adaptation by bringing together many of the leading researchers in thermal biology, with backgrounds spanning the disciplines of molecular biology, cell biology, physiology, zoology, ecology and evolutionary biology. The responses of many species to temperature are discussed in depth, through the molecular, cellular, organismal, population, and ecosystem levels. This text stands as an important contribution to the study of temperature adaptation.

A respected resource for decades, the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals has been updated by a committee of experts, taking into consideration input from the scientific and laboratory animal communities and the public at large. The Guide incorporates new scientific information on common laboratory animals, including aquatic species, and includes extensive references. It is organized around major components of animal use: Key concepts of animal care and use. The Guide sets the framework for the humane care and use of laboratory animals. Animal care and use program. The Guide discusses the concept of a broad Program of Animal Care and Use, including roles and responsibilities of the Institutional Official, Attending Veterinarian and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Animal environment, husbandry, and management. A chapter on this topic is now divided into sections on terrestrial and aquatic animals and provides recommendations for housing and environment, husbandry, behavioral and population management, and more. Veterinary care. The Guide discusses veterinary care and the responsibilities of the Attending Veterinarian. It includes recommendations on animal procurement and transportation, preventive medicine (including animal biosecurity), and clinical care and management. The Guide addresses distress and pain recognition and relief, and issues surrounding euthanasia. Physical plant. The Guide identifies design issues, providing construction guidelines for functional areas; considerations such as drainage, vibration and noise control, and environmental monitoring; and specialized facilities for animal housing and research needs. The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals provides a framework for the judgments required in the management of animal facilities. This updated and expanded resource of proven value will be important to scientists and researchers, veterinarians, animal care personnel, facilities managers, institutional administrators, policy makers involved in research issues, and animal welfare advocates.

This volume addresses in detail both livestock’s role in climate change and the impacts of climate change on livestock production and reproduction. Apart from these cardinal principles of climate change and livestock production, this volume also examines the various strategies used to mitigate livestock-related GHG emissions, and those which can reduce the impacts of climate change on livestock production and reproduction. Presenting information and case studies collected and analyzed by professionals working in diversified ecological zones, the book explores the influence of climate change on livestock production across the globe. The most significant feature of this book is that it addresses in detail the different adaptation strategies and identifies targets for different stakeholders in connection with climate change and livestock production. Further, it puts forward development plans that will allow the livestock industries to cope with current climate changes and strategies that will mitigate the effects by 2025. Lastly, it provides researchers and policymakers several researchable priorities to help develop economically viable solutions for livestock production with less GHG emissions, promoting a cleaner environment in which human beings and livestock can live in harmony without adverse effects on productivity. Given that livestock production systems are sensitive to climate change and at the same are themselves a contributor to the phenomenon, climate change has the potential to pose an increasingly formidable challenge to the development of the livestock sector. However, there is a dearth of scientific information on adapting livestock production to the changing climate; as such, well-founded reference material on sustaining livestock production systems under the changing climate scenarios in different agro-ecological zones of the world is essential. By methodically and extensively addressing all aspects of climate change and livestock production, this volume offers a valuable tool for understanding the hidden intricacies of climatic stress and its influence on livestock production.

Environmental stress is one of the most significant factors affecting livestock performance and health, and it is only expected to increase with effects of global warming. Environmental Physiology of Livestock brings together the latest research on environmental physiology, summarizing progress in the field and providing directions for future research. Recent developments in estimating heat stress loads are discussed, as well as key studies in metabolism, reproduction, and genetic expressions. Environmental Physiology of Livestock begins with a survey of current heat indexing tools, highlighting recent discoveries in animal physiology, changes in productivity levels, and new technologies available to better estimate stress response. Using this synopsis as a point of orientation, later chapters hone in on major effects of heat stress, including changing metabolic pathways and nutrient requirements, endocrine regulation of acclimation to environmental stress, and reduced reproductive performance. The text concludes with a thorough discussion of environmental effects on gene expressions, providing important insight for future breeding practices. Environmental Physiology of Livestock is a globally contributed volume and a key resource for animal science researchers, geneticists, and breeders.

Whether you're a polar bear giving birth to cubs in an Arctic winter, a camel going days without water in the desert heat, or merely a suburbanite without air conditioning in a heat wave, your comfort and even survival depend on how well you adapt to extreme temperatures. In this entertaining and illuminating book, biopsychologist Mark Blumberg explores the many ways that temperature rules the lives of all animals (including us). He moves from the physical principles that govern the flow of heat in and out of our bodies to the many complex evolutionary devices animals use to exploit those principles for their own benefit. In the process Blumberg tells wonderful stories of evolutionary and scientific ingenuity--how penguins withstand Antarctic winters by huddling together by the thousands, how vulnerable embryos of many species are to extremes of temperature during their development, why people survive hour-long drowning accidents in winter but not in summer, how certain plants generate heat (the skunk cabbage enough to melt snow around it). We also hear of systems gone awry--how desert species given too much water can drink themselves into bloated immobility, why anorexics often complain of feeling cold, and why you can't sleep if the room is too hot or too cold. After reading this book, you'll never look at a thermostat in quite the same way again. Table of Contents: Introduction 1. Temperature: A User's Guide 2. Behave Yourself 3. Then Bake at 98.6°F for 400,000 Minutes 4. Everything in Its Place 5. Cold New World 6. Fever All through the Night 7. The Heat of Passion 8. Livin' off the Fat 9. The Light Goes Out Epilogue Bibliography Acknowledgments Index Reviews of this book: There's a little twinkle in Mark Blumberg's eye as he explains the role of temperature in life on Earth, that essential gleam that makes books about science successful and appealing...His writing is clear, a fine balance of explanation, example and ideas. --Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times Book Review Reviews of this book: The need to maintain body temperature within a narrow range is the biggest single influence on physiology and behaviour, as Mark Blumberg explains in this little gem of a book, Body Heat...Blumberg describes the exquisite mechanisms developed by different species to generate, conserve or lose body heat. --John Bonner, New Scientist Reviews of this book: This is one of those books that leaves you for a few heady days in possession of a new key to all mysteries. Written entertainingly for a popular audience, the book argues that the evolved behaviour and physical characteristics of most creatures, from the tiniest nematode worm to the largest whale, is governed by the need to maintain a comfortable body temperature. --Emma Crichton-Miller, The Telegraph Reviews of this book: Blumberg...presents a thoroughly interesting book on body temperature and its many influences, loaded with a marvelously broad range of topics related to the biology of body temperature. From structural adaptations, such as ear size, circulatory patterns, and body shape that have evolved to help maintain body temperature, to psychological effects of temperature, the physiology of fevers, and even sexual-thermal metaphors used in everyday conversation. A host of fascinating aspects of how species respond to temperature changes are also discussed...Body Heat is great reading, certain to produce an enlightened appreciation for how body temperature control is critical for all organisms. --M. A. Palladino, Choice Reviews of this book: Mark S. Blumberg, in Body Heat, also takes the role of temperature in human affairs onto a global stage, but his metaphors, languages and conclusions are neither biblical nor prophetic. Instead he wants to remind us just how narrow our margins of tolerance are against that ultimate enemy: cold...Blumberg loves his subject, is convinced of its importance, and he wants to put across the intrinsic interest of temperature physiology to a larger audience. He retains a light touch--and because he is an active researcher in his own right, is able to bring new information and new insights to his pages. --Jonathan Kingdon, Times Literary Supplement This book is a real treat. Mark Blumberg takes something we normally hardly think about, and makes it into a fascinating topic, with colorful examples from fields as disparate as etymology and entomology. You probably will be repeating many of the stories he tells to those around you, as you discover why a fever may be good for you, or how babies generate their own heat, or how eating disorders interact with body temperature problems. It's entertaining, interesting, and great fun. --Michael Leon, University of California, Irvine This is an engaging enchilada of a book, wrapping up cold feet, a warm heart, hot sex, and chili peppers, for easy digestion by the general science consumer. Delicious! --Bernd Heinrich, University of Vermont, and author of The Hot-Blooded Insects: Strategies and Mechanisms of Thermoregulation