Ruling Reptiles

Ruling Reptiles
Author: Holly N. Woodward
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 424
Release: 2023-09-05
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0253066468

Modern crocodylians--crocodiles, alligators, caiman (Central and South America), and gharials (India)--have evolved over 250 million years from a fully terrestrial, bipedal ancestor. Along with birds, crocodylians are the only living members of Archosauria, the group including nonavian dinosaurs. Ruling Reptiles features contributions on a broad range of topics surrounding crocodylian evolution and biology including osteology, osteohistology, developmental biology, myology, odontology, functional morphology, allometry, body size estimation, taphonomy, parasitology, ecology, thermophysiology, and ichnology. It demonstrates how the wide variety of these studies can also provide crucial insights into dinosaurian biology and evolution. Featuring the latest findings and interpretations, Ruling Reptiles: Crocodylian Biology and Archosaur Paleobiology is an essential resource for zoologists, biologists, and paleontologists.

Ruling Reptiles

Ruling Reptiles
Author: Holly N. Woodward
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 693
Release: 2023-09-05
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0253066476

Modern crocodylians—crocodiles, alligators, caiman (Central and South America), and gharials (India)—have evolved over 250 million years from a fully terrestrial, bipedal ancestor. Along with birds, crocodylians are the only living members of Archosauria, the group including nonavian dinosaurs. Ruling Reptiles features contributions on a broad range of topics surrounding crocodylian evolution and biology including osteology, osteohistology, developmental biology, myology, odontology, functional morphology, allometry, body size estimation, taphonomy, parasitology, ecology, thermophysiology, and ichnology. It demonstrates how the wide variety of these studies can also provide crucial insights into dinosaurian biology and evolution. Featuring the latest findings and interpretations, Ruling Reptiles: Crocodylian Biology and Archosaur Paleobiology is an essential resource for zoologists, biologists, and paleontologists.

The Rise of Reptiles

The Rise of Reptiles
Author: Hans-Dieter Sues
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Total Pages: 401
Release: 2019-08-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1421428679

Accurate, synthetic, and sweeping, The Rise of Reptiles is the definitive work on the subject.

Ecology and Behaviour of Mesozoic Reptiles

Ecology and Behaviour of Mesozoic Reptiles
Author: J. L. Cloudsley-Thompson
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2005-01-19
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9783540224211

Our knowledge of extinct animals depends almost entirely upon the study of fossils. This richly illustrated book clothes the skeletons of dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles with flesh, and shows how these fascinating animals evolved and probably lived. Expert author John L. Cloudsley-Thompson provides an interesting synthesis of current views on their ecology, physiology and behaviour, and outlines the various hypotheses that have been proposed to explain their extinction. Numerous beautiful drawings of the animals and their environment illustrate this exciting monograph.

Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of the Savannah River Site

Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of the Savannah River Site
Author: J. Whitfield Gibbons
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2010-01-01
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0820334952

Host to more than one hundred species of reptiles and amphibians, the Savannah River Site, a 780-square-kilometer tract in South Carolina, is one of the most intensely studied areas of herpetological ecology in the world. This guide is a summary of basic information on the site’s richly varied herpetofauna, from their taxonomy and distribution to their behavior and habitats. Keys to identify the adult and larval forms of the site’s known species comprise the core of the guide. These keys are supplemented by maps, graphs, and illustrations as well as by information on habitats; population characteristics and distribution; behavior related to movement, feeding, and reproduction; morphology; and techniques for collecting specimens. The guide also includes information about special identification and study problems involving unresolved sighting reports; subspeciation; and venomous, edible, endangered, and introduced species. Finally, a bibliography gives not only the sources referred to in the guide but virtually all studies and reports based on herpetological research conducted at the Savannah River Site. The site-related publications are listed by author but can also be found through an index to the subjects they cover. Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of the Savannah River Site is a valuable one-volume introduction to the existing information on herpetofauna at the site and to the countless research opportunities the site still presents. Because it is clearly written and designed and lists most of the reptiles and amphibians found in Georgia and South Carolina, the guide is also useful to wildlife observers--professional and amateur--in those states.

Evolution of The Brain and Intelligence

Evolution of The Brain and Intelligence
Author: Harry Jerison
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 497
Release: 2012-12-02
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0323141080

Evolution of the Brain and Intelligence covers the general principles of behavior and brain function. The book is divided into four parts encompassing 17 chapters that emphasize the implications of the history of the brain for the evolution of behavior in vertebrates. The introductory chapter covers the studies of animal behavior and their implications about the nature of the animal's world. The following chapters emphasize methodological issues and the meanings of brain indices and brain size, as well as the general anatomy of the brain. Other chapters discuss the history of the brain in the major vertebrate groups that were known about 300 million years ago to determine the fate of these early vertebrate groups. Discussions on broad trends in evolution and their implications for the evolution of intelligence are also included. Substantive matter on the brains, bodies, and associated mechanisms of behavior of vertebrates are covered in the remaining chapters of the book, with an emphasis on evolution "above the species level. This book is of value to anthropologists, behavioral scientists, zoologists, paleontologists, and neurosciences students.

General Immunology

General Immunology
Author: Edwin L. Cooper
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2014-05-20
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1483136590

General Immunology provides a general overview of the immune system. It presents topics in immunology from all living groups, treating cells, tissues, organs, and organismal levels of biological organization. The book contains 23 chapters organized into eight sections. Section I serves as an introduction to immunology—a science, a sketch of its history, some of its more recent contributors, something about gathering facts, immunology journals, and the entire biomedical enterprise of which immunology is just a part. Section II is devoted to antigens while Section III examines the immune system in chordates and the ontogeny of the immune system. Section IV on cells of the immune system covers monocytes, macrophages, the three granulocytic types, and mast cells. Section V deals with phagocytosis and the interaction of lymphocytes. Section VI is devoted to antigens in relation to antibody synthesis, antigen-antibody interactions, immunologlobulin structure, and immunologlobulin assembly. Section VII on organs of the immune system examines bone marrow, thymus, spleen, lymph nodes, and lymphoid aggregations. Section VIII discusses the evolution of the immune system. This text was written for advanced undergraduates. However, its comprehensiveness makes it useful to immunologists and biologists at all levels as well as medical students and clinicians.