Butterflies

Butterflies
Author: Carol L. Boggs
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 784
Release: 2003-07
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780226063171

In Butterflies: Ecology and Evolution Taking Flight, the world's leading experts synthesize current knowledge of butterflies to show how the study of these fascinating creatures as model systems can lead to deeper understanding of ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes in general. The twenty-six chapters are organized into broad functional areas, covering the uses of butterflies in the study of behavior, ecology, genetics and evolution, systematics, and conservation biology. Especially in the context of the current biodiversity crisis, this book shows how results found with butterflies can help us understand large, rapid changes in the world we share with them—for example, geographic distributions of some butterflies have begun to shift in response to global warming, giving early evidence of climate change that scientists, politicians, and citizens alike should heed. The first international synthesis of butterfly biology in two decades, Butterflies: Ecology and Evolution Taking Flight offers students, scientists, and amateur naturalists a concise overview of the latest developments in the field. Furthermore, it articulates an exciting new perspective of the whole group of approximately 15,000 species of butterflies as a comprehensive model system for all the sciences concerned with biodiversity and its preservation. Contributors: Carol L. Boggs, Paul M. Brakefield, Adriana D. Briscoe, Dana L. Campbell, Elizabeth E. Crone, Mark Deering, Henri Descimon, Erika I. Deinert, Paul R. Ehrlich, John P. Fay, Richard ffrench-Constant, Sherri Fownes, Lawrence E. Gilbert, André Gilles, Ilkka Hanski, Jane K. Hill, Brian Huntley, Niklas Janz, Greg Kareofelas, Nusha Keyghobadi, P. Bernhard Koch, Claire Kremen, David C. Lees, Jean-François Martin, Antónia Monteiro, Paulo César Motta, Camille Parmesan, William D. Patterson, Naomi E. Pierce, Robert A. Raguso, Charles Lee Remington, Jens Roland, Ronald L. Rutowski, Cheryl B. Schultz, J. Mark Scriber, Arthur M. Shapiro, Michael C. Singer, Felix Sperling, Curtis Strobeck, Aram Stump, Chris D. Thomas, Richard VanBuskirk, Hans Van Dyck, Richard I. Vane-Wright, Ward B. Watt, Christer Wiklund, and Mark A. Willis

Defensive (anti-herbivory) Coloration in Land Plants

Defensive (anti-herbivory) Coloration in Land Plants
Author: Simcha Lev-Yadun
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 373
Release: 2016-10-20
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319420968

This book presents visual plant defenses (camouflage, mimicry and aposematism via coloration, morphology and even movement) against herbivores. It is mainly an ideological monograph, a manifesto representing my current understanding on defensive plant coloration and related issues. The book is not the final word in anything, but rather the beginning of many things. It aims to establish visual anti-herbivory defense as an integral organ of botany, or plant science as it is commonly called today. I think that like in animals, many types of plant coloration can be explained by selection associated with the sensory/cognitive systems of herbivores and predators to reduce herbivory. It is intended to intrigue and stimulate students of botany/plant science and plant/animal interactions for a very long time. This book is tailored to a readership of biologists and naturalists of all kinds and levels, and more specifically for botanists, ecologists, evolutionists and to those interested in plant/animal interactions. It is written from the point of view of a naturalist, ecologist and evolutionary biologist that I hold, considering natural selection as the main although not the only drive for evolution. According to this perspective, factors such as chance, founder effects, genetic drift and various stochastic processes that may and do influence characters found in specific genotypes, are not comparable in their power and influence to the common outcomes of natural selection, especially manifested when very many species belonging to different plant families, with very different and separate evolutionary histories, arrive at the same adaptation, something that characterizes many of the visual patterns and proposed adaptations described and discussed in this book. Many of the discussed visual defensive mechanisms are aimed at operating before the plants are damaged, i.e., to be their first line of defense. In this respect, I think that the name of the book by Ruxton et al. (2004) "Avoiding Attack" is an excellent phrase for the assembly of the best types of defensive tactics. While discussing anti-herbivory, I do remember, study and teach physiological/developmental aspects of some of the discussed coloration patterns, and I am fully aware of the simultaneous and diverse functions of many plant characters in addition to defense.

Speciation and Patterns of Diversity

Speciation and Patterns of Diversity
Author: Roger Butlin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2009-01-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780521709637

The diversity of species of plants and animals is the net result of the origin of new species by the splitting of existing lineages (speciation) and the loss of species through extinction. Why there are more species in some groups of organisms, in some places or at some times depends on the balance of these processes. This book explores the interaction between mechanisms and rates of speciation and these patterns of biological diversity, and is unusual in that it brings together the viewpoints of ecologists interested in the processes that generate patterns of diversity and evolutionary biologists who focus on mechanisms of speciation. It is intended to stimulate dialogue between these groups and so promote a more complete understanding of biological diversity.

Forest Canopies

Forest Canopies
Author: Margaret Lowman
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 543
Release: 2004-09
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0124575536

The treetops of the world's forests are where discovery and opportunity abound, however they have been relatively inaccessible until recently. This book represents an authoritative synthesis of data, anecdotes, case studies, observations, and recommendations from researchers and educators who have risked life and limb in their advocacy of the High Frontier. With innovative rope techniques, cranes, walkways, dirigibles, and towers, they finally gained access to the rich biodiversity that lives far above the forest floor and the emerging science of canopy ecology. In this new edition of Forest Canopies, nearly 60 scientists and educators from around the world look at the biodiversity, ecology, evolution, and conservation of forest canopy ecosystems. Comprehensive literature list State-of-the-art results and data sets from current field work Foremost scientists in the field of canopy ecology Expanded collaboration of researchers and international projects User-friendly format with sidebars and case studies Keywords and outlines for each chapter

Plant Resource Allocation

Plant Resource Allocation
Author: Fakhri A. Bazzaz
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 319
Release: 1997-07-23
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0080539076

Plant Resource Allocation is an exploration of the latest insights into the theory and functioning of plant resource allocation. An international team of physiological ecologists has prepared chapters devoted to the fundamental topics of resource allocation. - Comprehensive coverage of all aspects of resource allocation in plants - All contributors are leaders in their respective fields

Hybrid Zones and the Evolutionary Process

Hybrid Zones and the Evolutionary Process
Author: Richard Gerald Harrison
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 378
Release: 1993
Genre: Evolution (Biology)
ISBN: 019506917X

Hybrid zones--geographical areas in which the hybrids of two races are found--have attracted the attention of evolutionary biologists for many years, both because they are windows on the evolutionary process and because the patterns of animals and plant variation seen in hybrid zones do notfit the traditional classification schemes of taxonomists. Hybrid zones provide insights into the nature of the species, the way barriers to gene exchange function, the genetic basis of those barriers, the dynamics of the speciation process. Hybrid Zones and the Evolutionary Process synthesizes theextensive research literature in this field and points to new directions in research. It will be read with interest by evolutionary biologists, geneticists, and biogeographers.

The Development and Evolution of Butterfly Wing Patterns

The Development and Evolution of Butterfly Wing Patterns
Author: H. Frederik Nijhout
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
Total Pages: 315
Release: 1991-08-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0874749174

Integrating the results of comparative morphology, experiments on pattern development, the genetics of color patterns, and theoretical modeling of pattern formation, Nijhout shows that the enormous diversity of natural patterns arises largely from quantitative variations in a small set of readily understandable generating rules.

population genetics and ecology

population genetics and ecology
Author: Samuel Karlin
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 847
Release: 2012-12-02
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0323142230

Population Genetics and Ecology is a collection of papers presented at a 1975 conference-workshop held in Israel and is devoted to topics in population genetics and ecology. Contributors discuss topics related to population genetics and ecology, including the determinants of genetic variation in natural populations; experimental design and analysis of field and laboratory data; and theory and applications of mathematical models in population genetics. The book describes a number of field and laboratory studies that focus on a variety of spatial and temporal character and enzyme frequency patterns in natural populations, along with possible associations between these patterns and ecological parameters. This volume is organized into three sections encompassing 31 chapters and begins by summarizing the results of field and laboratory research that investigated gene frequency patterns in space and time of animal and plant populations. This book then explains the origin of new taxa; animal and plant domestication; variation in heritability related to parental age; and problems in the genetics of certain haplo-diploid populations. The next section offers a combination of data analyses and interpretations of related models, with some papers devoted to the origin of race formation and the interaction between sexual selection and natural selection. Among the theoretical studies presented are facets of selection migration interaction; stochastic selection effects; properties of density and frequency dependent selection; concepts and measures of genetic distance and speciation; aspects of altruism; and kin selection. This book will be of interest to naturalists, experimentalists, theoreticians, statisticians, and mathematicians.

The Genus Adelpha

The Genus Adelpha
Author: Keith Richard Willmott
Publisher:
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2003
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

Revision of butterflies of genus Adelpha from Neotropics.

Parasite Diversity and Diversification

Parasite Diversity and Diversification
Author: Serge Morand
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 503
Release: 2015-02-26
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1107037654

By joining phylogenetics and evolutionary ecology, this book explores the patterns of parasite diversity while revealing diversification processes.