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What, precisely, is a primitive fish? Most biologists would agree that the living cyclostomes, selachians, crossopterygians, etc. cannot be considered truly primitive. However, they and the fossil record have served to provide the information which forms the basis for speculation concerning the nature of the original vertebrates. This symposium of biologists from a variety of disciplines was called together to create collectively, from the best available current evidence, a picture of the probable line of evolution of the prototype primitive fishes. The symposium was designed to follow one that took place in Stockholm in 1967, convened for a similar purpose, with about the same number of par...
Echinoderms are now considered as a biological and geological model that underlies researches of primary importance. The extent of the contributions made by the International Echinoderm Conferences to various fields of research is attested by the scope covered by presentation at the international conferences. These proceedings contain the complete papers or abstracts of all the presentations and posters presented at the eighth International Echinoderm Conference, held in Dijon, France in September, 1994. Coverage includes: general; extinct classes; crinoids; asteroids; ophiuroids; holothuroids; and echinoids.
This volume provides a particularly timely survey of invertebrate peptide hormones. Interest in invertebrate peptide hormones has focused upon two important and related aspects, both of which are fully covered in this volume. As such, it should have a broad appeal to scientists from a number of disciplines.
The coastal and ocean ecosystem is a significant feature of our planet and provides a source of food for much of life on Earth. Millions of species have been, and are still being discovered in the world’s oceans. Among these zooplankton serve as secondary producers and are significant as they form pelagic food links and act as indicators of water masses. They constitute the largest and most reliable source of protein for most of the ocean’s fishes. As such, their absence or depletion often affects fishery. In many countries, the decline in fishery has been attributed to reduced plankton populations. Furthermore, trillions of tiny copepods produce countless faecal pellets contributing gre...
This multi-author, six-volume work summarizes our current knowledge on the developmental biology of all major invertebrate animal phyla. The main aspects of cleavage, embryogenesis, organogenesis and gene expression are discussed in an evolutionary framework. Each chapter presents an in-depth yet concise overview of both classical and recent literature, supplemented by numerous color illustrations and micrographs of a given animal group. The largely taxon-based chapters are supplemented by essays on topical aspects relevant to modern-day EvoDevo research such as regeneration, embryos in the fossil record, homology in the age of genomics and the role of EvoDevo in the context of reconstructin...
Since 1972, scientists from all over the world working on fundamental questions of echinoderm biology and palaeontology have conferred every three years to exchange current views and results. The 11th International Echinoderm Conference held at the University of Munich, Germany, from 6-10 October 2003,continued this tradition. This volume
The ocean has absorbed a significant portion of all human-made carbon dioxide emissions. This benefits human society by moderating the rate of climate change, but also causes unprecedented changes to ocean chemistry. Carbon dioxide taken up by the ocean decreases the pH of the water and leads to a suite of chemical changes collectively known as ocean acidification. The long term consequences of ocean acidification are not known, but are expected to result in changes to many ecosystems and the services they provide to society. Ocean Acidification: A National Strategy to Meet the Challenges of a Changing Ocean reviews the current state of knowledge, explores gaps in understanding, and identifi...
Strictly speaking, the term regulatory peptides may include any peptide which has a regulatory function in any organism. In recent years, how ever, the term has come to mean those originally classified as brain-gut peptides. The peptides initially defined as those belonging to the brain gut axis had a dual location in neurones of the brain and endocrine cells of the gut. We now include a number of neuropeptides found in the autonomic nervous system of the gut, the cardiovascular system and other systems. To many scientists comparative physiology means comparison of the mechanisms of certain functions in the rat, the guinea-pig, the cat and maybe some other mammal. If the philosophy is that m...
Fish lives in environments with a wide variety of chemical characteristics (fresh, brackish and seawater, acidic, alkaline, soft and hard waters). From an osmoregulatory point of view, fish have developed several mechanisms to live in these different environments. Fish osmoregulation has always attracted considerable attention and in the last years several studies have increased our knowledge of this physiological process. In this book several specialists have analyzed and reviewed the new data published regarding fish osmoregulation. The chapters present an integrative synthesis of the different aspects of this field focusing on osmoregulation in specific environments or situations, function of osmoregulatory organs, general mechanisms and endocrine control. In addition, interactions of osmoregulatory mechanisms with the immune system, diet and metabolism were also reviewed. New emerging techniques to study osmoregulation has also been analysed.