Sensory Evolution on the Threshold
Subtitle: Adaptations in Secondarily Aquatic Vertebrates
Contributors: J. G. M. Thewissen (Editor); Sirpa Nummela (Editor)
Edition: 1 edition
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: February 4, 2008
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 358
ISBN-13: 9780520252783
Subjects: Earth Sciences - Oceanography; Life Sciences - Biology - General; Life Sciences - Zoology - General; Science / Biology; Science; Adaptation; Aquatic animals; Evolution; Sense organs; Science/Mathematics
Description: "From crocodiles and penguins to seals and whales, this comprehensive and authoritative synthesis explores the function and evolution of sensory systems in animals whose ancestors lived on land. Together, the contributors explore the dramatic transformation of smell, taste, sight, hearing, balance, mechanoreception, magnetoreception, and electroreception that occurred as lineages of amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals returned to aquatic-environments. Each chapter integrates data from fields including sensory physiology, anatomy, paleontology, and neurobiology. A one-stop source for information on the sense organs of secondarily aquatic tetrapods, Sensory Evolution on the Threshold sheds new light on both the evolution of aquatic vertebrates and the sensory biology of their astonishing transition."--Jacket.