Book Description

The fifty-seven original essays in this book provide a comprehensive overview of the interdisciplinary field of animal cognition. The contributors include cognitive ethologists, behavioral ecologists, experimental and developmental psychologists, behaviorists, philosophers, neuroscientists, computer scientists and modelers, field biologists, and others. The diversity of approaches is both philosophical and methodological, with contributors demonstrating various degrees of acceptance or disdain for such terms as "consciousness" and varying degrees of concern for laboratory experimentation versus naturalistic research. In addition to primates, particularly the nonhuman great apes, the animals discussed include antelopes, bees, dogs, dolphins, earthworms, fish, hyenas, parrots, prairie dogs, rats, ravens, sea lions, snakes, spiders, and squirrels.

The topics include (but are not limited to) definitions of cognition, the role of anecdotes in the study of animal cognition, anthropomorphism, attention, perception, learning, memory, thinking, consciousness, intentionality, communication, planning, play, aggression, dominance, predation, recognition, assessment of self and others, social knowledge, empathy, conflict resolution, reproduction, parent-young interactions and caregiving, ecology, evolution, kin selection, and neuroethology. ... Read more

Book Description

This book provides an analysis of frequently used research techniques in animal ecology, identifying their limitations and misuses, as well as possible solutions to avoid such pitfalls. The contributors provide an overarching account of central theoretical and methodological controversies. The editors have forged comprehensive presentations of key topics in animal ecology, such as territory and home range estimates, habitation evaluation, population viability analysis, GIS mapping, and measuring the dynamics of societies.

Reviews (1)

Very useful information for ecology students
This edited volume is comprised of 11 chapters that deal with a variety of the methods used to obtain and analyze ecological data pertaining to animals.Because each chapter is written by a different author, the chapters vary in style and level of detail.The book starts with a very broad treatment of hypothesis testing and then proceeds to outline such techniques as marking vertebrates for mark-recapture studies, calculating home range size, measuring habitat selection and use, assessing vertebrate food habits and diet, measuring population sizes (a chapter I would have placed earlier in the book), detecting density dependent population change, modeling predator-prey dynamics, performing population viability analysis, measuring animal behaviors, and modeling species distributions using a Geographic Information System.The chapters on habitat selection and PVA were especially well-written.The book differs from Krebs' classic "Ecological Methodology" in that it spends far less time on statistical modeling and far more time reviewing the pros and cons of technqiues that are found in every ecologist's toolbox.

The book has a distinctly vertebrate bias, making it not as useful as one might hope for those biologists like myself who study the other 99% of Kingdom Animalia.Even so, however, some of the techniques are directly transferrable to studies on invertebrates (and plants as well).

The book is written at the level of advanced undergraduates or graduate students, but even seasoned professionals will appreciate the book when they are brushing up on familiar methods or trying to learn new ones. ... Read more

Book Description

This anthology contains 33 articles (9 new to this edition) published since 1977 in American Scientist, the journal of the scientific society Sigma Xi. Articles illustrate how behaviorists think about and conduct their research, and provide greater insight into the behavior of selected vertebrate and invertebrate species than most textbook accounts.

While sequenced particularly to complement John Alcock's Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach, this readily comprehensible and richly illustrated reader will enhance courses based on other textbooks as well. Indeed, the book can stand alone as a sampler of the excitement and diversity of research approaches and organisms that constitute the modern study of animal behavior. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

great reading for an undergraduate student
As a third year university studentm, I read this text as supplementary reading for our Animal Behaviour undergraduate course last semester. Throughout the duration of the course I was suitably impressed with the presentation of the material in the class (particularly due to the notable performances of the two profs teaching it) but found that this text was a truly engaging read that helped round out my learning experience.

While it does not follow the structure of a true scientific report, we do keep in mind that it is composed of excerpts from a scientific magazine that also caters towards the laypeople (i.e. those who have no major scientific background), just like Scientific American and Wildlife Conservation (although both those magazines are even more general than the American Scientist!). I found this to be one of the best supplementary texts that we have been given at the university so far, due to the scope of interesting topics presented, from canid domestication to prairie-vole partnerships to human mating strategies. As many of my other classmates, I read the rest of the book (as well as parts of the other assigned textbook) without the necessity of our profs assigning readings, growing more and more attached to the amazingly captivating field of ethology.

As I mentioned before, this text is not written in the format of a scientific journal, but it still educates and inspires readers of our generation to investigate the issues discussed further in depth (even during our spare time) by using those aforementioned scientific journals to glean valuable insight into actual experimental methods. Excellent!

Somewhat stimulating collection of articles on behaviour
This collection of journal articles assembled by Sherman and Alcock is somewhat thought prevoking. Unfortunately that is where it ends. Most of the articles are subjective in nature and often lack any real scientific structure (e.g., no data, unclear methods, etc.) If, however, you enjoy a good biological debate, this book contains many articles which argue various points of view (with various degrees of ability) on subjects such as sociobiology, coevolution, and behavioural genetics. ... Read more

Book Description

"Farrand states the rationale for his procedure succinctly, leaving most of the pages' space for photos that are sharp and truly enough colored to be fully legible..." - Booklist. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Photos not just drawings
One of it's best features is the additional photo of the bird in flight, this makes identication easier. I looked over many books before I decided on this one, it is well organized and the photos are much better over those pictured with drawings. With each bird pictured is a list of similar species, I wish there were pictures of these too but than it would be too heavy to carry with me. My uncle has had many birder books for years and this is still his favorite too.Diane

All in all a worthy field guide.
I've owned this field guide for quite some time. The pictures and text are all good. I believe it would have been a better book had it had actual maps of of the birds distribution though. Describing where a particular bird is located geographically just in words without a map is not what I like. Other than that, this is more than an adequate guide for any person who enjoys birding. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (2)

Great Book for Herpetologists
Knowledge of the often under-studied and overlooked larval stage of the frog- the tadpole- is reviewed excelently in this book. Chapters cover areas from anatomy to ecology.Couldn't recommend this book enough for the herpetologist!

Anuran Tadpoles
This volume provides the "only" comprehensive review of larval anuran biology and behavior that I am aware of. The authors obviously live, think and breath "tadpole". An extremely useful addition to any herpetologists library. ... Read more

Book Description

Sturkie's Avian Physiology is the classic comprehensive single volume on the physiology of domestic as well as wild birds. The Fifth Edition is thoroughly revised and updated, and includes new chapters on the physiology of incubation and growth. Chapters on the nervous system and sensory organs have been greatly expanded due to the many recent advances in the field. The text also covers the physiology of flight, reproduction in both male and female birds, and the immunophysiology of birds.
The Fifth Edition, like the earlier editions, is a must for anyone interested in comparative physiology, poultry science, veterinary medicine, and related fields. This volume establishes the standard for those who need the latest and best information on the physiology of birds.

Key Features
* Thoroughly updated and revised
* Coverage of both domestic and wild birds
* New larger format
* Only comprehensive, single volume devoted to birds ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Great Book!
I have had this book for a year and I am always pulling it back out to help purchase butterfly plants and to ID catipillers and butterflys. Lots of excellent pictures of every stage of each Florida butterfly. Excellent lists of plants, both host and nectar. Great pictures of the plants. The only thing I have found missing is any info on when to expect the butterfly's in your garden.

Flordia Butterfly Gardening
This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in buuterfly gardening. Lots of helpful practical information. This book was recommended to me by Zane Greathouse who owns Greathouse Butterfly Farm. ... Read more

Book Description

A growing body of evidence has begun to reveal flaws in the traditional assumption of female passivity and lack of discrimination after copulation has begun. William Eberhard has compiled an impressive array of research on the ability of females to shape the outcome of mating. He describes studies of many different cryptic mechanisms by which a female can accept a male for copulation but nevertheless reject him as a father. Evidence from various fields indicates that such selectivity by females may be the norm rather than the exception. Because most post-copulatory competition between males for paternity is played out within the bodies of females, female behavior, morphology, and physiology probably often influence male success in these contests. Eberhard draws examples from a diversity of organisms, ranging from ctenophores to scorpions, nematodes to frogs, and crickets to humans.

Cryptic female choice establishes a new bridge between sexual selection theory and reproductive physiology, in particular the physiological effects of male seminal products on female reproductive processes, such as sperm transport, oviposition, and remating. Eberhard interweaves his review of previous studies with speculation on the consequences of this theoretical development, and indicates promising new directions for future research. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Darwin's Scariest Problem: Origin of the Eyeball
This book is a treasure for anyone with an interest in the puzzle that fascinated and terrified Darwin:- the origins of such an exquisitely-designed and multi-purpose structure as the eye.

In succinct and accessible prose, supplemented by 130 superb graphics and 16 colour plates, these two genius-savants of the world of eyeballs share 60 years of acquired wisdom about the breathtaking diversity of eyes on our planet, where even today new kinds of optical arrangements are being discovered in the eyes of different creatures.

Both authors have made numerous discoveries of new kinds of eyes and came together professionally when they independently discovered an image-forming system that uses mirrors instead lenses. In the book they share their extensive knowledge of eyes in a straight-talking and approachable way without talking down to the reader, yet without using specialist jargon. The clean graphics equal the text in weight and importance if one bears in mind the old adage about pictures being worth thousands of words, .......especially pictures like these, which cannot be drawn without a perfect understanding of the optical world being illustrated. Even if one has little knowledge of optics, the clear diagrams enable one to grasp the essential details of the different eye designs. There are also "boxes" outside the main text for those who would like added details about lens systems and optical design. Engineers may be interested to discover that different animals independently "invented" most of the optical designs currently being used in man-made devices, and that some discoveries, such as the box-mirror design without lenses, have been successfully used in industry after being inspired by the discoveries in animals of these two biologists.

The book sets the diversity of optical design into an evolutionary framework which helps to reduce the immensity of the puzzle with which Darwin originally grappled, while perhaps adding some new aspects. We still have some distance to go to understand the origins of many aspects of the diversity of eye design, particularly how multi-purpose eyes appeared that seem to combine, into the one design, all the specialized solutions seen in different animals . The book highlights such questions, and answers others, in a particularly clear way that may owe something to the authors' expertize with straight-tending paths of light.

The book is also very timely, given the vigorous current debate about the evolution of eyes and the possibility of a single "master gene" (pax6) that initiates the development of all kinds of eyes. This book is essential, fascinating reading for anyone interested in that debate if they are to be aware of the mind-boggling variety of eyes and optical systems involved. Even if that hot debate does not interest you, there is enormous satisfaction to be gained in contemplating these radically different solutions adopted by animals to image their worlds. ... Read more

Book Description

The pelecaniformes are a large and important group of seabirds, containing many spectacular species.This book addresses the breeding biology of the six pelecaniform families, which comprise the closely-related core groups (pelicans, cormorants/shags, darters, gannets/boobies) and their more distant relatives, the frigate birds and tropic birds.Many fundamental questions can be addressed through the pelecaniformes: Why do they breed in colonies? What are the links between their feeding methods and their reproduction? What part does territorial and pairing behavior play in their life-cycles? These and scores of comparable issues, including those related to man, are woven here into a richly interpretative text. The author's approach to the subject is threefold.First, the pelecaniformes are placed within the framework of four discrete disciplines, with chapters on evolutionary relationships, comparative behaviour, ecology, and the birds' relationship with humans. Secondly, each of the six families is discussed, elucidating the range of taxonomy, behavior, and ecology within each. Finally, we progress to specific level, using the same structure as for the family accounts.In this way, each of the 60-odd species can be understood not just as discrete units, but as part of their family and order. The book is unique in its coverage of the entire order and in its combination of facts and interpretation.Pelicans, Cormorants, and their Allies will enable readers not only to identify the many spectacular species which make up this large and important group of seabirds, but also to understand their breeding biology. ... Read more

Book Description

This new edition of a highly successful text, published in its second edition in 1981, adheres to the framework laid down by the late Professor Underwood, but has been thoroughly revised and updated by Dr. Neville Suttle. ... Read more

Book Description

Horses communicate with remarkable accuracy in a language of posture, gesture and sound. They express their needs, wishes and emotions to each other and to the rare human being who understands them. After reading this unprecedented, exciting and up-lifting book, you will understand the equine language. You therefore will know how to recognize:

Moreover, you will know how to reassure the frightened, calm the angry, comfort the grieving, divert the bored -- and deal with most other human-equine difficulites. You will know how to educate a foal or rehabilitate a rogue. You will know how to look at race horses on their way to the starting gate and differentiate the likely winners from the losers.

You even will know how to buy a horse.

But best of all, you will finally understand what these grand animals are all about, and you will know better than ever before how they (and we) fit into nature's scheme of things.

Reviews (11)

I love this book!
For someone who is just learning about horses, as I am, this book is a gratifying shortcut. It tells what to expect, what to do and not do, and basically---how horses think, act, and react, and what their real needs are. I couldn't put it down...and thank the authors for being so thorough! I've observed some "veteran" horse persons whose horse-wisdom would be enhanced mightily if they read this book from cover to cover. Five stars!

You won't look at the paddock/post parade the same way!
A must read for the handicapper who wants an edge. By understanding the horse itself you'll better understand why "crazy" things happen at the races. Spot longshots that are on their toes and ready to put in a good performance. Look at horses coming off the layoff and have a better understanding of if they are fit and ready. An insight into the mind of the horse - and if you can interpret what the horse may be thinking you can figure out if s/he wants to run! Don't go to the paddock or watch another post parade without reading this book first. It's given me an edge and can help you too!

States the obvious and strays off-topic.
I was rather disappointed with this book for several reasons. First and foremost, the bulk of the book does not, as the title would have us believe, focus on the body language of horses. A couple of chapters devote themselves to brief descriptions of horse behavior under different circumstances (when happy, angry, frightened, bored, tired, hot, cold, hungry, thirsty, etc.), but the largest sections of the book concern curing problem horses and training foals. At the end there is a chapter on observing the body language of racehorses in order to pick winners, and two appendices on how to buy a horse.

Not only does the book stray from it's purported topic, but the information that IS given about equine body language is so basic and obvious that any true horseperson would already know it, and any aspiring horseperson could learn it all in a matter of a few weeks spent around the creatures. Of course a nervous horse will work up a sweat, a bored horse will get mouthy, and a horse that is irritated by a fly will swish its tail and twitch its skin. There are really only two forseeable uses, in my mind, for this book. The first is as a reference for those who know next to nothing about horses and wish to learn. The second, a slightly different version of the first, is as a guide to non-equestrian racegoers in order to pick winning horses on which to place their bets (and this is not surefire or guaranteed in any way, since pre-race behavior is only one of many factors that determines the outcome of a race).

The book is also considerably old, and a bit dated. It was written and first published in 1980, more than two decades ago. While the basic behavior of horses hasn't changed in that time, much else in the horse world has, including attitudes toward the care and training of horses. There are now many more effecting training methods than those presented here, and one passage in the book even alarmed me. Though they pronounce it a "dubious last resort," the authors nevertheless included the following method for "[teaching] manners to a resistant horse":

". . . dramatic effects are obtained by striking the animal over the poll bone with a fragile wine bottle filled with a slush of sand and warm water. When the bottle breaks and the warm, moist substance dribbles down its head, the savage horse becomes a trembling wreck. A gestured threat to repeat the treatment is usually enough to terminate subsequent misbehavior" (pg. 49).

While this is the only place in the book where the authors propose such blatantly inappropriate methods, I nevertheless cannot give a vote of confidence to anyone that would condone striking an animal with a wine bottle to elicit compliance. In addition, the authors make a great many generalizations about equine behavior and do not allow much leeway for differences in personality. As any person who spends much time around horses knows, one can be vastly different from the next. I said earlier that this book had two conceivable uses, but even for those I would not recommend purchasing this book. There are other books out there on the behavior and training of horses that are more current, more accurate, and more effective.

Get Robert Vavra's book instead
If you want to learn about the nuances of horse body language and behaviour Robert Vavra's "Such Is the Real Nature of Horses" will tell you much more than this book.

For fantasy writers new to horses, invaluable!
I was a complete novice when it came to horses, but after I spent some time with this book, I was a changed man! I have nothing but rave reviews for this. To the writer who wants to know about horses and horse behavior, this book is perfect. Good description and a good index for easy reference in times of need. I didn't finish reading it yet, and I didn't need to as far as I'm concerned. I'm sold! ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (3)

Good in its main parts
The Coppingers in "Dogs" try to say a few different things. The main topics are how wolves became selected as dogs, what this implies for their behavior and training, and the ethics of pure-breeding and using working dogs as pets. In these core topics, this book is generally well argued and supported in the main, but suffers from hiccups of poor reasoning. In one example, when arguing why bigger dogs are better for the transhumance, the authors state "to cover the distance with half the steps means a longer lasting dog." Well, the bigger dog also takes heavier steps and big dogs are notorious for structural problems. However, these hiccups are minor distractions.

The first core topic that dogs evolved first as scavengers of human waste dumps is interesting. While still largely a speculative hypothesis, this idea is shown fairly well in the book to be more reasonable than the idea that humans got a hold of enough wolves to domesticate them by selecting the tamest ones and tossing the others. This has implications for training in that essentially sedentary dogs foraging at a dump are not going to have wolf behaviors, particularly the widely assumed pack hierarchy.

Another major topic is the discussion on why working dogs, with strongly ingrained motor patterns of behavior, are not going to be well suited for living in a house - unless you like being herded by your border collie. This too is well done and promoting the option of a more "generic" dog as a better household companion will do much good. There is also a section on how assistance dogs suffer by being bred and developed in manners inconstant with what makes for a good working dog. While this has been criticized as an argument against assistance dogs, a careful reading will show that it is a valid critique of how the system can be improved.

The Coppingers' critique of the profound wrong that is breeding for show will upset the most people. But it is also the best and most important argument in the book. And no, breeding for work, for behavior, which doesn't involve closing a stud book, is not just as bad or the same thing as breeding for appearance from a closed stud book.

Throughout the book, the Coppingers also try to discuss what canine evolution implies for Darwinian theories of evolution, but do so in a confused manner by misunderstanding gradualism in the modern sense as being slow, constant changes in morphology (they also use the word "saltation" in a broad and confused way) rather than the actual meaning of continuous, though possibly quite fast, change at the genetic level. They themselves argue that canids have not changed much genetically and that their diversity of form is due to developmental reasons with the needed genetic variation provided by hybridization within the species. Fortunately, these discussions are not central to enjoying the book.

The Coppingers write with a bit of wit, which I enjoyed. But most importantly, this book is unique to my knowledge in trying to be rational, rather than sentimentally anthropomorphic, towards dogs. As such should be read by anyone with an interest in them and their true well-being.

they aren't only dogs
Let's see now--a dozen dogs eating their heads off so that you can run them in sled races for sport is mutualistic while one pet dog eating its head off in your home is parasitism. A shepherd culling all non-white puppies or a sportsman breeding sled dogs to be faster and faster is beneficial, but the AKC doing the same kind of selection is evil. If you like this kind of logic, you will love this book. I am always amused by the sanctimony of the "working dog" enthusiasts who fail to see that inbreeding is inbreeding, whether for working behavior or looks. Anybody who thinks that the working dog people aren't just as fanatical as the AKC is invited to surf puppy-for-sale websites where we see the same emphasis on pedigree that we see among the AKC purists. The only difference is that one group is selecting for behavioral characteristics and the other for aesthetic ones. You will note that although the authors condemn inbreeding, it appears that most of the dogs they have owned belong to a breed, as we hear about Border Collies, Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, Alaskan Huskies, Marammano-Abruzzese, etc. Indeed, they consider themselves to be quite daring in having crossed a couple of exotic herding breeds. So, if mongrels are so great, why aren't they talking about their black-and-white dogs, or their shepherd mixes?
Speaking of behavior, the discussion of the genetics of behavior in this book is nearly incomprehensible, and I'm still not sure what the point was. That behavior has a genetic component cannot be denied. Their examples of why certain breeds aren't good for particular jobs continually confuse physical limitations with behavioral ones. Thus, a Newfoundland likes water because it is big, never mind that water spaniels and border collies are about the same size and guess which one is most likely to go jump in the lake? Their view of behavior is quite mechanistic, relying on a very simplistic idea that underlying physical characteristics determine behavior, e.g. a Newfie is more comfortable in the water therefore is more likely to go in. However, the most completely discussed model of behavior in the book, the predatory motor pattern, has no inherent physical component, and presumably physical limitations have not played a part in selecting the behaviors derived from it.
This is not to say that there aren't a few good things about the book. The untestable hypothesis that dogs evolved as commensals isn't a bad one, although I'd be surprised to learn that anyone took the suckling of wolves hypothesis very seriously to begin with. They were also right on in poking a hole in the hot-air balloon sent up by the mtDNA biologists who wanted to get a paper in Science by inflating their data. And I completely agree with them about the evils of inbreeding--I just think it applies to working dogs as well as pets.
Overall, I think the main weakness of this book is that it doesn't consider the human component of the equation at all. This is no doubt an attempt to counteract the many sentimental and sometimes silly books that have been written about dogs, but they miss the point on a couple of occasions because they don't consider the interaction between dogs and people. For example, they didn't like the "mean" dogs in the Tijuana dump, whose meaness they attribute to interbreeding with the local fighting pet dogs. I've spent time in Mexico where I saw a grandmother kick a 4-week old puppy across a yard and a starving mongrel whose mouth had been tied shut, to mention only a couple of the more egregious cases of cruelty. This contrasts with many other countries I've visited in which dogs are treated with the same benign neglect as the dogs of Pemba. It seems to me that the human perception of "meanness" might have something to do with the different interactions between humans and dogs in these cultures.
Several other reviewers mentioned the last sentence of the book--"they are only dogs". But the fact is a dog ISN'T just a dog in our society and we don't treat them like livestock (even the authors admit to letting Jane into the house when she got old--did they do the same for their old ewes? Have they ever eaten any of their dogs?). In its way, this book, with its idealization of dogs as workers and demonization of dogs as pets, serves as a perfect example of the bias and emotional baggage most of us bring to our relationships with dogs. And for the record, the feelings I have for my black-and-white mongrel are nothing like those I felt for the tapeworms I got last year.

Opens the mind to Ethology
This is a great book that has opened my mind to the study of Ethology! Ethology is the scientific study of animal behavior. You don't have to be an Ethologist to like this book. If you have a dog, work in the veterinary field or are just interested in dogs you'll find this book hard to put down. It's full of facinating facts and information that will draw you in. It's well worth your time to pick up a copy and start reading it today. ... Read more

Book Description

This book meets the demand for a comprehensive introduction to understanding the processes of population limitation. Recognized world-wide as a respected biologist and communicator, Dr. Ian Newton has now written a clear and detailed treatise on local scale population limiting factors in birds. It is based almost entirely on results from field studies, though it is set in a contemporary theoretical framework. The 16 chapters fall under three major section headings: Behavior and Density Regulation; Natural Limiting Factors; and Human Impacts. Population Limitation in Birds serves as a needed resource expanding on Dr. David Lacks research in this area of ornithology in the 1950s. It includes numerous line diagrams and beautiful illustrations by acclaimed wildlife artist Keith Brockie.

Key Features
* Provides a sorely needed introduction to a long-established core subject in ornithology
* Focuses on local scale factors
* Written by a well-known biologist and effective communicator
* Includes numerous line diagrams and beautiful illustrations by acclaimed wildlife artist Keith Brockie ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent overview
Ian Newton yet again is successful in giving a wonderful overview of a complex environmental issue ... Read more

Book Description

Using the popular phylum-by-phylum approach and both live and preserved commercially available specimens, this comprehensive collection of 25 lab exercises in the structure and function of invertebrates allows readers to discover hands-on how the animals actually work. Throughout, readers make observations, conduct investigations, and ask and answer questions. Features phylogenetic descriptions, simple geological time scales, etymon for each phylum name, simple pronunciation guide for scientific names, and abundant illustrations.The Protozoans. Phylum Porifera. Cnidaria. Phylum Ctenophora. Phylum Platyhelminthes. Phylum Nemertea (Rhynchocoela). Phylum Gastrotricha. Phylum Rotifera. Phylum Acanthocephala. Phylum Mollusca. Phylum Annelida. Phylum Nematomorpha. Phylum Nematoda. Phylum Onychophora. Phylum Tardigrada. Phylum Arthropoda. Phylum Sipuncula (Sipunculida). Phylum Phoronida. Phylum Bryozoa. Phylum Kamptozoa (Entoprocta). Phylum Brachiopoda. Phylum Echinodermata. Phylum Chaetognatha. Phylum Hemichordata. Phylum Chordata.For anyone interested in the structure and function of invertebrates. ... Read more

Book Description

In most terrestrial and aquatic habitats, the vast majority of animals transmitting and receiving communicative signals are arthropods. This book presents the story of how this important group of animals use pheromones, sound, vibration, and light for sexual and social communication. Because of their small to minute body size most arthropods have problems sending and receiving acoustic and optical information, each of which have their own severe constraints. Because of these restraints they have developed chemical signaling which is not similarly limited by scale. Presenting the latest theoretical and experimental findings from studies of signaling, it suggests that close parallels between arthropods and vertebrates reflect a very limited number of solutions to problems in behavior that are available within the confines of physical laws. ... Read more

Book Description

Predictions about where different species are, where they are not, and how they move across a landscape or respond to human activities - if timber is harvested, for instance, or stream flow altered - are important aspects of the work of wildlife biologists, land managers, and the agencies and policymakers that govern natural resources. Despite the increased use and importance of model predictions, these predictions are seldom tested and have unknown levels of accuracy.

Predicting Species Occurrences addresses those concerns, highlighting for managers and researchers the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches, as well as the magnitude of the research required to improve or test predictions of currently used models. The book is an outgrowth of an international symposium held in October 1999 that brought together scientists and researchers at the forefront of efforts to process information about species at different spatial and temporal scales. It is a comprehensive reference that offers an exhaustive treatment of the subject, with 65 chapters by leading experts from around the world that:

• review the history of the theory and practice of modeling and present a standard terminology
• examine temporal and spatial scales in terms of their influence on patterns and processes of species distribution
• offer detailed discussions of state-of-the-art modeling tools and descriptions of methods for assessing model accuracy
• discuss how to predict species presence and abundance
• present examples of how spatially explicit data on demographics can provide important information for managers

Predicting Species Occurrences offers important new information about many of the topics raised in the seminal volume Wildlife 2000 (University of Wisconsin Press, 1986) and will be the standard reference on this subject for years to come. Its state-of-the-art assessment will play a key role in guiding the continued development and application of tools for making accurate predictions and is an indispensable volume for anyone engaged in species management or conservation. ... Read more

Book Description

Eight chapters consider the latest research and thought in the study of how insects use chemical signals to communicate with each other or to interact with other species. Written by internationally recognized experts, they focus on topics such as plant defenses against insects, floral odors that attract pollinators, host finding by parasitic insects, and pheromone-mediated interactions in cockroaches, moths, spiders, and mites. The book is essential reading for researchers and graduate students of chemically mediated communication in insects. ... Read more