Great transformations in vertebrate evolution /

Great transformations in vertebrate evolution /

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Bibliographic Details
Imprint:Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2015.
Description:ix, 424 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 29 cm
Language:English
Subject:
Vertebrates -- Evolution.
Vertebrates -- Evolution.
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/10901628
Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other authors / contributors:Dial, Kenneth Paul, editor.
Shubin, Neil, editor.
Brainerd, Elizabeth L., editor.
ISBN:9780226268118
022626811X
9780226268255
022626825X
9780226268392
Notes:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:How did flying birds evolve from running dinosaurs, terrestrial trotting tetrapods evolve from swimming fish, and whales return to swim in the sea? These are some of the great transformations in the 500-million-year history of vertebrate life. And with the aid of new techniques and approaches across a range of fields - work spanning multiple levels of biological organization from DNA sequences to organs and the physiology and ecology of whole organisms - we are now beginning to unravel the confounding evolutionary mysteries contained in the structure, genes, and fossil record of every living species. This book gathers a diverse team of renowned scientists to capture the excitement of these new discoveries in a collection that is both accessible to students and an important contribution to the future of its field. Marshaling a range of disciplines - from paleobiology to phylogenetics, developmental biology, ecology, and evolutionary biology - the contributors attack particular transformations in the head and neck, trunk, appendages such as fins and limbs, and the whole body, as well as offer synthetic perspectives. -- from back cover.
Standard no.:40025372659
9780226268255
Table of Contents:
  • Introduction
  • Part I. Origins and Transformations
  • 1. Origin of the Vertebrate Dentition: Teeth Transform Jaws into a Biting Force
  • 2. Flexible Fins and Fin Rays as Key Transformations in Ray-Finned Fishes
  • 3. Major Transformations in Vertebrate Breathing Mechanisms
  • 4. Origin of the Tetrapod Neck and Shoulder
  • 5. Origin of the Turtle Body Plan
  • 6. Anatomical Transformations and Respiratory Innovations of the Archosaur Trunk
  • 7. Evolution of Hind Limb Posture in Triassic Archosauriforms
  • 8. Fossils, Trackways, and Transitions in Locomotion: A Case Study of Dimetrodon
  • 9. Respiratory Turbinates and the Evolution of Endothermy in Mammals and Birds
  • 10. Origin of the Mammalian Shoulder
  • 11. Evolution of the Mammalian Nose
  • 12. Placental Evolution in Therian Mammals
  • 13. Going from Small to Large: Mechanical Implications of Body Size Diversity in Terrestrial Mammals
  • 14. Evolution of Whales from Land to Sea
  • 15. Major Transformations in the Evolution of Primate Locomotion
  • Part II. Perspectives and Approaches
  • 16. Ontogenetic and Evolutionary Transformations: Ecological Significance of Rudimentary Structures
  • 17. Skeletons in Motion: An Animator's Perspective on Vertebrate Evolution
  • 18. Developmental Mechanisms of Morphological Transitions: Examples from Archosaurian Evolution
  • 19. Microevolution and the Genetic Basis of Vertebrate Diversity: Examples from Teleost Fishes
  • 20. The Age of Transformation: The Triassic Period and the Rise of Today's Land Vertebrate Fauna
  • 21. How Do Homoplasies Arise? Origin and Maintenance of Reproductive Modes in Amphibians
  • 22. Rampant Homoplasy in Complex Characters: Repetitive Convergent Evolution of Amphibian Feeding Structures
  • Contributors
  • Index

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