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This volume discusses renal function and the mechanisms by which the kidney regulates the composition and volume of the extracellular fluid. It also highlights the role of the kidney in the development and progression of arterial hypertension. Most textbooks of renal physiology are based in mammalians physiology and mostly human physiology of the kidney, but the authors considered that this book should also include other species to include the broad spectrum of students and researchers in the life and biomedical sciences. In this sense, we included chapters such as comparative osmoregulation in non-mammalian vertebrates and we emphasize that in vertebrates like fish, reptiles, amphibians and birds, the kidneys and extrarenal organs are vital to maintain fluid homeostasis. The purpose of the book is to provide a concise frame of knowledge in a clear and direct language, of the renal function to medical and biological sciences students. In the context of normal renal function, we providepathophysiological basis for chronic renal diseases and hypertension with the participation of renal vasoactive hormones. This book is used as textbook in several physiology courses for medical, nursing and biological sciences students at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Finis Terrae University, Universidad San Sebastian as well as other universities.

An award-winning, much-loved biologist turns his gaze on himself, using his long-distance running to illuminate the changes to a human body over a lifetimePart memoir, part scientific investigation, Racing the Clock is the book biologist and natural historian Bernd Heinrich has been waiting his entire life to write. A dedicated and accomplished marathon (and ultra-marathon) runner who won his first marathon at age thirty-nine, Heinrich looks deeply at running, aging, and the body, exploring the unresolved relationship between metabolism, diet, exercise, and age. Why do some bodies age differently than others? How much control do we have over that process and what effect, if any, does being active have? Bringing to bear research from his entire career and in the spirit of his classic Why We Run, Heinrich probes the questions of how we use energy and continue to adapt to our mutable surroundings and circumstances. Beyond that, he examines how our bodies change while we age but also how we can work with, if not overcome, many of these changes—and what all this tells us about evolution and the mechanisms of life, health, and happiness.Racing the Clock offers fascinating and surprising conclusions, all while bringing the reader along on Heinrich's compelling journey to what he says will be his final race—a fifty-kilometer race at age eighty.

Conservation physiology is a rapidly expanding, multidisciplinary field that utilizes physiological knowledge and tools to understand and solve conservation challenges. This novel text provides the first consolidated overview of its scope, purpose, and applications, with a focus on wildlife. It outlines the major avenues and advances by which conservation physiology is contributing to the monitoring, management, and restoration of wild animal populations. This book also defines opportunities for further growth in the field and identifies critical areas for future investigation. By using a series of global case studies, contributors illustrate how approaches from the conservation physiology toolbox can tackle a diverse range of conservation issues including the monitoring of environmental stress, predicting the impact of climate change, understanding disease dynamics, improving captive breeding, and reducing human-wildlife conflict. Moreover, by acting as practical road maps across a diversity of sub-disciplines, these case studies serve to increase the accessibility of this discipline to new researchers. The diversity of taxa, biological scales, and ecosystems highlighted illustrate the far-reaching nature of the discipline and allow readers to gain an appreciation for the purpose, value, applicability, and status of the field of conservation physiology. Conservation Physiology is an accessible supplementary textbook suitable for graduate students, researchers, and practitioners in the fields of conservation science, eco-physiology, evolutionary and comparative physiology, natural resources management, ecosystem health, veterinary medicine, animal physiology, and ecology.

Este libro es una introducción básica para aquellos aspectos de la fisiología animal comparada que se apoyan particularmente en las interrelaciones fisiológicas entre los animales y su ambiente. Los atributos fisiológicos de los animales son discutidos en vistas a su significación en el teatro ecológico y se ha hecho énfasis en la perspectiva evolucionista ya que es la interacción histórica entre el animal y el ambiente la que ha condicionado la forma y la Fisiología de las especies modernas.

Principles Of Animal Growth And Development makes the readers familiar with the various aspects that are related to the process of growth in the animals and the various kinds of growth in the animals as it takes place in the different body parts and the various forms of growth cells. It provides the basic information on the role of various mechanisms of the body in the growth and development of the various parts in the body. This book also discusses about the development of the several kinds of tissues in the animals, the growth of muscles in the animals, the molecular control of adipogenesis, the factors that affect the composition of adipose tissue and lipid metabolism, the growth of bones and the relationship between the growth, development and the quality of meat in various animals.

Oxygen uptake for metabolic energy demand and the elimination of the resulting carbon dioxide is one of the essential processes in all higher life forms; in the case of animals, everything from protozoans to insects and vertebrates including humans. Respiratory Biology of Animals provides a contemporary and truly integrative approach to the topic, adopting a strong evolutionary theme. It covers aerobic metabolism at all levels, from gas exchange organs such as skin, gills, and lungs to mitochondria - the site of cellular respiration. The book also describes the functional morphology and physiology of the circulatory system, which often contains gas-carrying pigments and is important for pH regulation in the organism. A final section describes the evolution of animal respiratory systems. Throughout the book, examples are selected from the entire breadth of the animal kingdom, identifying common themes that transcend taxonomy. Respiratory Biology of Animals is an accessible supplementary text suitable for both senior undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in respiratory biology, comparative animal physiology, and environmental physiology. It is also of relevance and use to the many professional academics requiring a concise but authoritative overview of the topic.

First Published in 1986, this book offers a full, comprehensive guide into the relationship between Macromolecules and hereditary immunity. Carefully compiled and filled with a vast repertoire of notes, pictures, and references this book serves as a useful reference for Students of Medicine, and other practitioners in their respective fields.

Gives an account of the morphologies of vertebrate respiratory organs and attempts to explicate the basis of the common and different structural and functional designs and stratagems that have evolved for acquisition of molecular oxygen. The book has been written with a broad readership in mind: students of biology as well as experts in the disciplines of zoology, physiology, morphology, biological microscopy, biomedical engineering, and ecology and those that work or may contemplate working on materials and aspects concerning respiration in whole organisms will find it useful. Scientists in earth sciences with particular interest on the outcomes of past interactions between environmental factors (the physical domain) and evolution and adaptation (the biological domain), mechanisms that have set the composition, patterning, and anatomies of extant animal life, will find the book of interest.

Vision is the sense by which we and other animals obtain most of our information about the world around us. Darwin appreciated that at first sight it seems absurd that the human eye could have evolved by natural selection. But we now know far more about vision, the many times it has independently evolved in nature, and the astonishing variety of ways to see. The human eye, with a lens forming an image on a sensitive retina, represents just one. Scallops, shrimps, and lobsters all use mirrors in different ways. Jumping spiders scan with their front-facing eyes to check whether the object in front is an insect to eat, another spider to mate with, or a predator to avoid. Mantis shrimps can even measure the polarization of light. Animal eyes are amazing structures, often involving precision optics and impressive information processing, mainly using wet protein - not the substance an engineer would choose for such tasks. In Eyes to See, Michael Land, one of the leading world experts on vision, explores the varied ways in which sight has evolved and is used in the natural world, and describes some of the ingenious experiments researchers have used to uncover its secrets. He also discusses human vision, including his experiments on how our eye movements help us to do everyday tasks, as well as skilled ones such as sight-reading music or driving. He ends by considering the fascinating problem of how the constantly shifting images from our eyes are converted in the brain into the steady and integrated conscious view of the world we experience.

Cerebral Lateralization and Cognition: Evolutionary and Developmental Investigations of Motor Biases, Volume 238, the latest release in the Progress in Brain Research series, discusses interdisciplinary research on the influence of cerebral lateralization on cognition within an evolutionary framework. Chapters of note in this release include Evolutionary Perspectives: Visual/Motor Biases and Cognition, Manual laterality and cognition through evolution: An archeological perspective, Laterality in insects, Motor asymmetries in fish, amphibians and reptiles, Visual biases and social cognition in animals, Mother and offspring lateralized social interaction across animal species, Manual bias, personality and cognition in common marmosets and other primates, and more. - Presents investigations of cognitive development in an evolutionary framework - Provides a better understanding of the causal relationship between motor function and brain organization - Brings clinicians and neuroscientists together to consider the relevance of motor biases as behavioral biomarkers of cognitive disorders - Includes future possibilities for early detection and motor intervention therapies

The latest edition of Robert Arking's seminal text on the biology of aging takes on an extended title, since the field of gerontology has advanced to a point at which it is possible to separate the topic into two implicit subsets, longevity and aging. This multi-faceted description of the biology of aging guides the reader through increasingly interesting answers to seven fundamental questions: What is aging? Why do we age? What mechanisms support extended longevity? What determines the onset of senescence? What is the mechanistic basis of senescence? Why do humans live so long? And lastly, what pro-longevity societal interventions are needed? Inevitably, humans will age but there is no reason why we must suffer from age-related diseases. Aging and longevity are dependent on both genes and social environment. Our biology does not forbid the modulation of aging. What we really want to know is not so much about the biology of aging - which is basically a degenerative process - but rather about biological processes underlying the long term maintenance of our health. New chapters incorporate the latest developments in the field of gerontology. Research done since the previous edition was published has given us insight into how we may stay healthier longer.

Comparative bioacoustics is extraordinarily broad in scope. It includes the study of sound propagation, dispersion, attenuation, absorption, reverberation, and signal degradation as well as sound detection, recognition, and classification in both marine and terrestrial organisms (including humans). This research is informed by an understanding of the mechanisms underlying sound generation and aural reception, as well as the anatomy and physiology of the organs dedicated to these functions. Comparative Bioacoustics is the definitive introductory guide to the field of acoustics in animal and human biology. Key features of this volume are: -Comprehensive introduction to sound and related physical phenomena -Multidisciplinary and comparative analyses of bioacoustic phenomena -Integrated audio and video clips -Information about relevant research methods in bioacoustics Comparative Bioacoustics makes key information accessible to readers, therefore, meeting the requirements of both novice and advanced researchers preparing for a scholarly career in bioacoustics.

Aristote avait nommé « physiologues » les philosophes grecs présocratiques qui avaient proposé une explication générale de la nature des choses par le recours à quelque élément fondamental (eau, air, feu) ou à quelque composition d'éléments. De là, initialement, la dénomination de physiologie pour toute spéculation sur la nature en général...

The evolution of vertebrate hearing is of considerable interest in the hearing community. However, there has never been a volume that has focused on the paleontological evidence for the evolution of hearing and the ear, especially from the perspective of some of the leading paleontologists and evolutionary biologists in the world. Thus, this volume is totally unique, and takes a perspective that has never been taken before. It brings to the fore some of the most recent discoveries among fossil taxa, which have demonstrated the sort of detailed information that can be derived from the fossil record, illuminating the evolutionary pathways this sensory system has taken and the diversity it had achieved.

This fully revised new edition of the classic reference on domestic animal physiology provides detailed descriptions of animal function and dysfunction, with an emphasis on clinical relevance and pedagogical features to enhance learning. • Presents in-depth, comprehensive descriptions of domestic animal function and dysfunction • Emphasizes clinical relevance, with clinical correlations, notes of relevance, and self-assessment questions featuring situations likely to be faced in practice • Offers pedagogical features, including chapter outlines and introductions, key terms throughout the book, additional images, questions to enhance learning, and self-assessment exercises • Distills the most useful information for ease of use, with improved continuity and reduced repetition • Includes a companion website offering review questions and answers and the figures from the book in PowerPoint

This book presents cutting edge methods that provide insights into the pathways by which salt and water traverse cell membranes and flow in an orchestrated fashion amongst the many compartments of the body. It focuses on a number of molecular, cellular and whole animal studies that involve multiple physiological systems and shows how the internal milieu is regulated by multifactorial gene regulation, molecular signaling, and cell and organ architecture.Topics covered include: water channels, the urinary concentrating mechanism, angiotensin, the endothelin system, miRNAs and MicroRNA in osmoregulation, desert-adapted mammals, the giraffe kidney, mosquito Malpighian tubules, and circadian rhythms. The book highlights how different approaches to explaining the same physiological processes greatly increase our understanding of these fundamental processes. Greater integration of comparative, evolutionary and genetic animal models in basic science and medical science will improve our overall grasp of the mechanisms of sodium and water balance.

This book covers advances made since the 2004 Springer volume “Polarized Light in Animal Vision” edited by Horvath and Varju, but also provides reviews and synopses of some areas. Part I examines polarization sensitivity across many animal taxa including vertebrates and invertebrates and details both terrestrial and aquatic life. Part II is devoted to the description of polarized light in nature and explores how the physics of light must be taken into account when understanding how polarized light is detected by the visual system. This includes underwater polarization due to scattering; polarization patterns reflected from freshwater bodies; polarization characteristics of forest canopies; normal and anomalous polarization patterns of the skies; skylight polarization transmitted through Snell's window and both linearly and circularly polarized signals produced by terrestrial and aquatic animals. This Part also examines polarized “light pollution” induced by anthropogenic factors such as reflection off asphalt surfaces, glass panes, car bodies, and other man-made structures that are now known to form ecological traps for polarotactic insects. Part III surveys some of the practical applications of polarization vision including polarization-based traps for biting insects, ground-based polarimetric cloud detectors and an historical examination of the navigational abilities of Viking seafarers using the sky polarization compass. The deterrent qualities of ungulate pelage to polarization-sensitive biting insects is also examined in this section.

A comprehensive treatment of visual ecologyVisual ecology is the study of how animals use visual systems to meet their ecological needs, how these systems have evolved, and how they are specialized for particular visual tasks. Visual Ecology provides the first up-to-date synthesis of the field to appear in more than three decades. Featuring some 225 illustrations, including more than 140 in color, spread throughout the text, this comprehensive and accessible book begins by discussing the basic properties of light and the optical environment. It then looks at how photoreceptors intercept light and convert it to usable biological signals, how the pigments and cells of vision vary among animals, and how the properties of these components affect a given receptor's sensitivity to light. The book goes on to examine how eyes and photoreceptors become specialized for an array of visual tasks, such as navigation, evading prey, mate choice, and communication.A timely and much-needed resource for students and researchers alike, Visual Ecology also includes a glossary and a wealth of examples drawn from the full diversity of visual systems.The most up-to-date overview of visual ecology availableFeatures some 225 illustrations, including more than 140 in color, spread throughout the textGuides readers from the basic physics of light to the role of visual systems in animal behaviorIncludes a glossary and a wealth of real-world examples

Why do you switch from walking to running at a specific speed? Why do tall trees rarely blow over in high winds? And why does a spore ejected into air at seventy miles per hour travel only a fraction of an inch? Comparative Biomechanics is the first and only textbook that takes a comprehensive look at the mechanical aspects of life--covering animals and plants, structure and movement, and solids and fluids. An ideal entry point into the ways living creatures interact with their immediate physical world, this revised and updated edition examines how the forms and activities of animals and plants reflect the materials available to nature, considers rules for fluid flow and structural design, and explores how organisms contend with environmental forces. Drawing on physics and mechanical engineering, Steven Vogel looks at how animals swim and fly, modes of terrestrial locomotion, organism responses to winds and water currents, circulatory and suspension-feeding systems, and the relationship between size and mechanical design. He also investigates links between the properties of biological materials--such as spider silk, jellyfish jelly, and muscle--and their structural and functional roles. Early chapters and appendices introduce relevant physical variables for quantification, and problem sets are provided at the end of each chapter. Comparative Biomechanics is useful for physical scientists and engineers seeking a guide to state-of-the-art biomechanics. For a wider audience, the textbook establishes the basic biological context for applied areas--including ergonomics, orthopedics, mechanical prosthetics, kinesiology, sports medicine, and biomimetics--and provides materials for exhibit designers at science museums.Problem sets at the ends of chapters Appendices cover basic background information Updated and expanded documentation and materials Revised figures and text Increased coverage of friction, viscoelastic materials, surface tension, diverse modes of locomotion, and biomimetics

Living Nature, not dull Art Shall plan my ways and rule my heart -Cardinal Newman Nature and Art 1868 One of the ineluctable consequences of growth in any field of science is that subjects of inquiry once established tend to give birth to subsubjects and that the subsubjects once established will in time undergo further mitotic division. Not so many years ago, problems surrounding the ietus and newly born infant lay in a realm almost to be described as a'no-man's land.'Obstetricians properly gave major consideration to understanding and learning about processes and disorders concerned with maternal health and safety. The welfare of the infant was regarded as of secondary importance. Pediatricians on their part hesitated to invade the nursery, a sanctum regarded as belonging to the domain of the accoucheur. And the pathologist, enveloped in the mysteries of life and death in the adult, found scant tim~ for the neonate and the placenta.

In 1964, the Fertilization and Gamete Physiology Research Training Program (FERGAP) was established at the Marine Biological Laboratories, Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Over the course of the next 12 years, under the directorship of Dr. Charles B. Metz, FERGAP brought together, trained, and inspired a generation of students in reproductive biology from all over the world. As students of C. B. Metz and as FERGAP trainees, we would like to dedicate this collected work on comparative mammalian fertilization to our teacher and mentor, Dr. Charles B. Metz. Like a number of authors contributing to this volume, we have been struck by the significant impact that C. B. Metz and FERGAP had on the development of students of reproductive biology. Applying both the classical and molecular techniques of cell biology and immunology to problems of gamete biology, Dr. Metz emphasized a comparative and analytical approach that was reflected in his own research on fertilization in Paramecia, sea urchins, frogs, and mammals. It is hoped that this volume will serve to stimulate students to discover the myriad of fascinating research problems in gamete and reproductive biology. Bonnie S. Dunbar Michael G. O'Rand Houston, Texas Chapel Hill, North Carolina ix Contents Part I COMPARATIVE OVERVIEW OF MAMMALIAN GAMETES The Coevolution of Mammalian Gametes................................ 3 J. Michael Bedford I. Introduction..................................................... 3 2. Gamete Design.................................................. 4 2.1. Monotremes.................................. 5.............. 2.2. Marsupials.................................. 5............... 2.3. Eutherians................................................. 9 3. Gamete Maturation................................ 14............... 3.1. Oocyte Maturation.............................. 14............. 3.2. Sperm Maturation in the Male....................... 15..........

tribute greatly to understanding the origins of The plan for this book goes back almost 20 years. Already, at that time, it was possible to recognize organisms. an extraordinary variation in metabolites and To provide the biochemist with a ready over­ processes superimposed upon the basic biochem­ view of the structural diversity of animals, the book includes a simplified version of animal sys­ ical system of animals. Each species, each indi­ tematics; for further information on the classifica­ vidual, in fact each type of cell of the multicellu­ lar organism possesses its own biochemical char­ tion, structure and life of particular animal spe­ acter, and this molecular variety, its biological sig­ cies, the reader should consult the relevant text­ nificance, and its evolutionary development books. It is assumed that the zoologist reader has throw up many interesting questions. The com­ a basic knowledge of biochemistry; important general biochemical facts are in any case given for parative approach that has been so productive at many of the subjects covered. the higher levels of complexity of morphology and physiology can also be used to great effect at I had already completed several chapters of the molecular level. this book by the beginning of the 1970s.

The author examines hemostasis in animals from all seven major vertebrate classes. Her research provides unique insights into the phylogenetic development of the various phases and components of hemostasis. This monograph is a valuable reference for students, researchers, and teachers of biology, zoology, veterinary science, and human medicine.

The principal goal of the Handbook of Behavioral Neurobiology is a systematic, critical, and timely exposition of those aspects of neuroscience that have direct and immediate bearing on overt behavior. In this first volume, subtitled'Sensory Integration,'the subject matter has been subdivided and the authors selected with this particular goal in mind. Although the early chapters (on the phylogeny and ontogeny of sensory systems, and on the common properties of sensory systems) are somewhat too abstract to permit many direct behavioral inferences, the focus on behavior has been maintained there too as closely as is now possible. A behavioral orientation is most obvious in the remaining chapters, which layout for each sensory modality in turn what is now known about structure-behavior relationships. The handbook is primarily intended to serve as a ready reference for two types of readers: first, practicing neuroscientists looking for a concise and authori­ tative treatment of developments outside of their particular specialities; and second, students of one or another branch of neuroscience who need an overview of the persistent questions and current problems surrounding the relation of the perceptual systems to behavior. The requirements imposed by the decision to address these particular audiences are reflected in the scope and style of the chapters as well as in their content.

The visual world of animals is highly diverse and often very different from that of humans. This book provides an extensive review of the latest behavioral and neurobiological research on animal vision, detailing fascinating species similarities and differences in visual processing.

Etienne E. Baulieu• The theme of this book, Heterotypical Behaviour in Man and Animals, should be of great interest to physiologists, endocrinolo­ gists, physicians, and workers in social sciences. Although Heterotypical Sexual Behaviour is a major theme, this volume attempts to display wide interest in reproductive medicine, general physiology, and behaviour in the two sexes. The editors explore the psycho-social dimension, not only of sexuality, but of eroticism which, as recalled by John Money, has its etymological root in the Greek word for love. Being an endocrinologist, who has studied hormone function in terms of synthesis, metabolism, distribution and receptors of these messenger molecules, I would like to recall some data which are basic when considering the overall human machine. It is common knowledge that androgens and oestrogens are formed in both sexes, differences being observed only in concen­ trations and rhythms of secretion. In the brain of the two sexes, there appear to be the same enzymes which may transform androgens to oestrogens, a process which could explain some aspects of CNS differentiation and activity. Both males and females have androgen and oestrogen receptors, and neural! y these receptors appear to be present at the same order of magnitude and distributed according to the same pattern. There is even a similar distribution of receptors for progesterone, the hormone of pregnancy, in the brains of males and females. Therefore, several important pieces of the machinery transmitting sexual information • Laureat of the 1989 Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award.

A comprehensive account of genomic rearrangement, focusing on the mechanisms of inversion, translocation, gene and genome duplication and gene transfer and on the patterns that result from them in comparative maps. Includes analyses of genomic sequences in organelles, prokaryotes and eukaryotes as well as comparative maps of the nuclear genomes in higher plants and animals. The book showcases a variety of algorithmic and statistical approaches to rearrangement and map data.

A revelatory depiction of what animals can teach us about the human body and mind, exploring how animal and human commonality can be used to diagnose, treat, and heal patients of all species.'Full of fascinating stories.” —Atul Gawande, M.D.Do animals overeat? Get breast cancer? Have fainting spells? Inspired by an eye-opening consultation at the Los Angeles Zoo, which revealed that a monkey experienced the same symptoms of heart failure as human patients, cardiologist Barbara Natterson-Horowitz embarked upon a project that would reshape how she practiced medicine. Beginning with the above questions, she began informally researching every affliction that she encountered in humans to learn whether it happened with animals, too. And usually, it did: dinosaurs suffered from brain cancer, koalas can catch chlamydia, reindeer seek narcotic escape in hallucinogenic mushrooms, stallions self-mutilate, and gorillas experience clinical depression. Natterson-Horowitz and science writer Kathryn Bowers have dubbed this pan-species approach to medicine zoobiquity. New York Times BestsellerAn O, The Oprah Magazine “Summer Reading” PickA Discover Magazine Best Book

When a young graduate student sat before Percival Bailey in 1960 and spoke of his longstanding interest in zoology and his recent interest in the nervous system, he asked the then Director of the Illinois Neuropsychiatric Institute if there was support in the scientific establishment for research in evolutionary comparative neurology. Bailey patted his abdomen with both hands and thought for a moment. Finally he said:'Young man, there is no place for people like you.'The graduate student was crestfallen. To a large extent what Bailey said is still true. The greater part of research in neurobiology is directed toward answering a single broad question. How do brains in general, and the human brain in particular, work? This is a legitimate and important question. It is not, however, the only question worth answering. This overweening emphasis on function, especially in regard to the human nervous is a result of the origins of neurology in the clinic. The professional school, system, site of most such research, has been remarkably well-insulated from many of the major concerns of biology.

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 man is the centre of the universe and other mammals can be used as'models'of man, this may well be the most useful way to study the functions of the human being, without actually chopping somebody up. However, with a some­ what wider perspective on life, it is easy to see the importance of a full understanding of the function of all living organisms, in its own right as well as a link in the evolution towards individuals able to survive and reproduce in very different environments. The importance of com­ parative studies in all living organisms cannot be emphasized too much. It has been the ambition with this book to treat all animals as equally important.

Reproduction is the origination of new organisms from pre-existing ones. Among more than 35 separated forms of reproduction including several types of gamogony, parthenogenesis, agamogenesis, fission and division, and plas­ motomy, the bisexual mode of reproduction via fertilization provides genetic variability that allows species to adapt quickly to competitive and constantly changing environments. Several excellent reviews and books have been written in the past to analyse the mechanisms of fertilization in different eukaryotic species. During the last few years, however, renewed attention has been paid to examining the process of oocyte fertilization at the cellular/molecular level not only within a single species/group but also through different phylogenetic lineages. As a result of this effort, knowledge of the molecular pathways used by oocytes and spermatozoa at fertilization has increased, but still many ques­ tions remain to be answered. Being aware of the necessity of providing an inte­ grated view of the process of fertilization, this book has been entirely devoted to reviewing the process of oocyte fertilization at the cellular/molecular level in two different and separated groups of eukaryotic organisms: protozoa and metazoan animals. The book is organized into six sections dealing with oocyte fertilization in protozoa, invertebrates, teleost fishes, amphibians, birds and mammals. These sections are followed by a summary/concluding chapter that provides a com­ parative overview of the process of fertilization in these groups of eukaryotes.

Comparative Biochemistry: A Comprehensive Treatise, Volume VII: Supplementary Volume focuses on the processes, methodologies, and approaches involved in molecular biochemistry. The selection first offers information on expressions of the pentose phosphate cycle, including description, criteria for the presence of the pentose phosphate cycle, chordates, segmented worms, mollusks, echinoderms, roundworms, flatworms, algae, and higher plants. The text then ponders on chitin and mucosubstances, as well as the distribution and biochemistry of chitin, molecular structure and function of chitin, and chitin in relation to mucosubstances. The publication reviews the cellular aspects of active transport and hormones and behavior. Topics include relations between inorganic ions, sugar, amino acids, fatty acids, and bioelectric potentials; aspects of the regulation of the intracellular pool of free amino acids; hormones and permeability characteristics of living cellular membranes; and chemical nature of the structure responsible for the permeability characteristics of living membranes. The recording and measurement of behavior, role of hormones in the patterning of behavior, and hormones influencing behavior and the behavior most subject to hormonal influence and control are also discussed. The selection is a dependable source of data for readers interested in the processes, methodologies, approaches involved in biochemistry.

Recent years have witnessed an explosion of knowledge lea- ding to a molecular understanding of the mechanisms of ac- tion of calcium on excitation and contraction coupling and its role in the regulation of contractility. This book highlights the most recent progress as well as providing a historial perspective of the field. It presents a concise and comprehensive overview of our current knowledge regar- ding calcium channels and regulatory proteins as well as in- tracellular calcium handling and the mechanisms underlying the activation of contractile proteins. It also describes how these basic mechanisms have been adapted in various types of muscle, especially in cardiac and smooth muscle.

Cell culture based research is important for our understanding of biological processes at the cellular and molecular level. Using this approach, the previous decades have produced a wealth of mechanistic information in all areas of biomedical research. Such in vitro research, however, lacks the complexity of in vivo investigations, where many different cell types interact with each other in a normal, three-dimensional environment, with normal levels of cytokines and growth factors. Furthermore, complex human diseases, such as cancer, diabetes or chronic inflammation, can only be modeled in vivo. Due to its small size, its short reproduction time, and the possibility to introduce specific gene mutations, the mouse has become the favourite mammalian model organism to study in vivo function of genes during development and in disease. This book combines review articles on selected subjects presented at the symposium “Mouse as a Model Organism – From Animals to Cells”, held in Rovaniemi, Finland, 2009. Among other topics, high-throughput phenotyping of mouse mutants, mouse phenotypes dependent on nature and nuture, and a spectrum of in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro methods to study cancer in mice are described. This book will give an excellent introduction to scientists interested in the use of mice as a model to understand complex biological questions in the post-genomic era. It will highlight the possibilities, but also discuss the current problems and shortcomings, to give a realistic view of the current state-of-art in this fascinating field of biomedical research.

Trundling along in essentially the same form for some 220 million years, turtles have seen dinosaurs come and go, mammals emerge, and humankind expand its dominion. Is it any wonder the persistent reptile bested the hare? In this engaging book physiologist Donald Jackson shares a lifetime of observation of this curious creature, allowing us a look under the shell of an animal at once so familiar and so strange.Here we discover how the turtle's proverbial slowness helps it survive a long, cold winter under ice. How the shell not only serves as a protective home but also influences such essential functions as buoyancy control, breathing, and surviving remarkably long periods without oxygen, and how many other physiological features help define this unique animal. Jackson offers insight into what exactly it's like to live inside a shell—to carry the heavy carapace on land and in water, to breathe without an expandable ribcage, to have sex with all that body armor intervening.Along the way we also learn something about the process of scientific discovery—how the answer to one question leads to new questions, how a chance observation can change the direction of study, and above all how new research always builds on the previous work of others. A clear and informative exposition of physiological concepts using the turtle as a model organism, the book is as interesting for what it tells us about scientific investigation as it is for its deep and detailed understanding of how the enduring turtle “works.”

determined by an inability to move in response to touch. C. elegans develop through four larval stages following hatching and prior to adulthood. Adult C. elegans are reproductive for about the rst week of adulthood followed by approximately two weeks of post-reproductive adulthood prior to death. Life span is most commonly measured in the laboratory by maintaining the worms on the surface of a nutrie- agar medium (Nematode Growth Medium, NGM) with E. coli OP50 as the bacterial food source (REF). Alternative culture conditions have been described in liquid media; however, these are not widely used for longevity studies. Longevity of the commonly used wild type C. elegans hermaphrodite (N2) varies? from 16 to 23 days under standard laboratory conditions (20 C, NGM agar, E. coli OP50 food source). Life span can be increased by maintaining animals at lower ambient temperatures and shortened by raising the ambient temperature. Use of a killed bacterial food source, rather than live E. coli, increases lifespan by 2–4 days, and growth of adult animals in the absence of bacteria (axenic growth or bac- rial deprivation) increases median life span to 32–38 days [3, 23, 24]. Under both standard laboratory conditions and bacterial deprivation conditions, wild-derived C. elegans hermaphrodites exhibit longevity comparable to N2 animals [25].

Why do people find monkeys and apes so compelling to watch? One clear answer is that they seem so similar to us--a window into our own minds and how we have evolved over millennia. As Charles Darwin wrote in his Notebook,'He who understands baboon would do more toward metaphysics than Locke.'Darwin recognized that behavior and cognition, and the neural architecture that support them, evolved to solve specific social and ecological problems. Defining these problems for neurobiological study, and conveying neurobiological results to ethologists and psychologists, is fundamental to an evolutionary understanding of brain and behavior. The goal of this book is to do just that. It collects, for the first time in a single book, information on primate behavior and cognition, neurobiology, and the emerging discipline of neuroethology. Here leading scientists in several fields review work ranging from primate foraging behavior to the neurophysiology of motor control, from vocal communication to the functions of the auditory cortex. The resulting synthesis of cognitive, ethological, and neurobiological approaches to primate behavior yields a richer understanding of our primate cousins that also sheds light on the evolutionary development of human behavior and cognition.

This new book explores the psychophysical studies of colour perception in both animals and man help to understand these complex processes. Finally, colour perception in man may contribute either to rewarding psychological sensations of warmth, comfort and safety or to aversive sensations of coldness and discomfort, sensations which can strongly influence individuals in their daily social interactions.

Comparative analyses of the anatomy, reproductive physiology, and behaviour of extant primates and other mammals can offer important insights into the origins of human sexual behaviour, allowing us to reconstruct the origins of human mating systems, the evolution of sexual attractiveness, patterns of mate choice, and copulatory behaviour. Sexual Selection and the Origins of Human Mating Systems provides a modern synthesis of research on the evolution of human mating systems, bringing together work on reproductive physiology, behavioural biology, anthropology, primatology, palaeontology, evolutionary psychology, and sexological research. The approach taken is genuinely cross-disciplinary in scope, and provides a fascinating account of the effects of sexual selection upon human evolution in the light of the latest advances in the field.

Hopefully, this book will be taken off of the shelf frequently to be studied carefully over many years. More than 40 researchers were involved in this project, which examines respiration, circulation, and metabolism from?sh to the land vertebrates, including human beings. A breathable and stable atmosphere?rst appeared about 500 million years ago. Oxygen levels are not stable in aquatic environments and exclusively water-breathing?sh must still cope with the ever-changing levels of O 2 and with large temperature changes. This is re?ected in their sophisticated count- current systems, with high O extraction and internal and external O receptors. 2 2 The conquest for the terrestrial environment took place in the late Devonian period (355–359 million years ago), and recent discoveries portray the gradual transitional evolution of land vertebrates. The oxygen-rich and relatively stable atmospheric conditionsimpliedthatoxygen-sensingmechanismswererelativelysimpleandl- gain compared with acid–base regulation. Recently, physiology has expanded into related?elds such as biochemistry, molecular biology, morphology and anatomy. In the light of the work in these?elds, the introduction of DNA-based cladograms, which can be used to evaluate the likelihood of land vertebrates and lung?sh as a sister group, could explain why their cardio-respiratory control systems are similar. The diffusing capacity of a duck lung is 40 times higher than that of a toad or lung?sh. Certainly, some animals have evolved to rich high-performance levels.

Significant advances have been made in Endocrinology relating to developmental biology, environmental physiology, chronobiology, photobiology, reproductive biology, circulatory and digestive physiology, molecular biology, metabolic physiology, clinical and medical biology, etc. Comparative points of view have also accelerated the advancement of endocrinology. This book covers various topics of endocrinology from comparative, experimental, developmental, reproductive and clinical endocrine aspects. Another important feature of this book is that more than half the chapters are described in relation to the function of melatonin and the structure of the pineal organ. These trials of this book are reasonable and timely. Melatonin physiology has been reviewed from several points of view such as antioxidant and scavenger of hydroxyl radical, circadian clock and photoperiodic gonadal response including photoreceptor system, and development of vertebrates.