Overview
Animals perform many athletic tasks to an amazing degree of accomplishment: not only spectacular feats of running and jumping but also routine actions that ensure survival such as feeding, vocalization, diving, flying, and many more. The study of performance capacity (defined as the ability of an animal to conduct a key task) is of great interest to both ecologists and evolutionary biologists. At an ecological level, how well individuals perform often dictates opportunities for reproduction, occupation of preferred territories, or capturing prey. Therefore, variation in performance capacities can be a key determinant of variation in fitness within animal populations. At an evolutionary level, variation in function often follows closely from variation in form, and therefore enables animals to invade novel habitats, or to overtake other species. This novel book examines how and why animal athletes have evolved. It uses examples from across the animal kingdom and integrates them in the broader context of ecology and evolution, thereby identifying common themes that transcend taxonomic divisions. Animal Athletes is an accessible textbook of particular relevance to undergraduates, graduate students, researchers, and professionals in the fields of evolutionary biology, ecology, vertebrate morphology, and functional, morphology,and will also appeal to the interested layperson.
Full Product Details
Author: Duncan J. Irschick (University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA) ,
Timothy E. Higham (Associate Professor of Biology, Associate Professor of Biology, University of California Riverside, USA)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 16.30cm
, Height: 2.00cm
, Length: 23.50cm
Weight: 0.606kg
ISBN: 9780199296545
ISBN 10: 0199296545
Pages: 266
Publication Date: 10 December 2015
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
[S]uitable for all interested in the subject. The work is well referenced; a comprehensive index allows the reader to find desired examples (or principles). J. E. Grinnell, CHOICE Animal Athletes is a well-written, readable book that is accessible to non-experts, full of provocative and diverse examples of performance in free-living animals, and should be of interest to anyone working in integrative organismal biology. It would be an excellent text for a graduate course... Tony D. Williams, Integrative and Comparative Biology
Animal Athletes is a well-written, readable book that is accessible to non-experts, full of provocative and diverse examples of performance in free-living animals, and should be of interest to anyone working in integrative organismal biology. It would be an excellent text for a graduate course... Tony D. Williams, Integrative and Comparative Biology
Author Information
Duncan J. Irschick is a Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His interests include the evolution of form and function, ecology, and biomechanics. He has worked with many different animal species, including lizards, snakes, spiders, mammals, and sharks. He obtained his PhD from Washington University in St. Louis in 1996. Timothy E. Higham is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of California, Riverside. He studies comparative biomechanics, functional morphology, and physiology in a variety of organisms ranging from lizards to fishes. He received his PhD from the University of California, Davis in 2006.
