Amniote Origins: Completing the Transition to Land

by Stuart Sumida (Editor), Karen L.M Martin (Editor)

Overview

Amniote Origins integrates modern systematic methods with studies of functional and physiological processes, and illustrates how studies of paleobiology can be illuminated by studies of neonatology. For this reason, comparative anatomists and physiologists, functional morphologists, zoologists, and paleontologists will all find this unique volume very useful. Inspired by the prospect of integrating fields that have long been isolated from one another, Amniote Origins provides a thorough and interdisciplinary synthesis of one of the classic transitions of evolutionary history.

• Integrates modern systematic methods with studies of functional and physiological processes
• Illustrates how studies of paleobiology can be illuminated by studies of neonatology
• Provides a thorough and interdisciplinary synthesis of one of the classic transitions of evolutionary history

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780080527093
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Publication date:	01/08/1997
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	510
File size:	13 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments.
Contributors.
K.L.M. Martin and S.S. Sumida, An Integrated Approach to the Origin of Amniotes: Completing the Transition to Land.
Phylogenetic Perspective:
M. Laurin and R.R. Reisz, A New Perspective in Tetrapod Phylogeny.
M.Y.S. Lee and P.S. Spencer, Crown-Clades, Key Characters and Taxonomic Stability: When is an Amniote not an Amniote? Biogeographical Perspective:
D.S. Berman, S.S. Sumida, and R.E. Lombard, Biogeography ofPrimitive Terrestrial Amniotes.
J.B. Graham, N. Aguilar, R. Dudley, and C. Gans, The Late Paleozoic Atmosphere and the Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology of Tetrapods.
Feeding:
G.V. Lauder and G.B. Gillis, Origin of the Amniote Feeding Mechanism: Experimental Analysis of Outgroup Clades.
N. Hotton III, E.C. Olson, and R. Beerbower, The Amniote Transition and the Discovery of Herbivory.
The Amniote Egg:
M.J. Packard and R.S. Seymour, Evolution of the Amniote Egg.
J. Stewart, Morphology and Evolution of the Egg of Oviparous Amniotes.
Morphological Changes:
L. Frolich, The Role of the Skin in the Origin of Amniotes: Permeability Barrier, Protective Covering, and Mechanical Support.
S.S. Sumida, Locomotor Features of Taxa Spanning the Origin of Amniotes.
Integrative Biology and the Origin of Amniotes:
K.L.M. Martin and K.A. Nagy, Water Balance and the Physiology of the Amniote Transition.
T. Garland, K.L.M. Martin, and R. Diaz-Uriarte, Reconstructing Ancestral Trait Values Using Squared Change Parsimony: Plasma Osmolarity at the Amniote Transition.
Subject Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...the editors are to be congratulated on a job well done... the volume offers most welcome insights..." —TREE "Careful editing and the focus on integrated, comparative analysis of a single group keep this book from sharing the journal-issue fate of most technical symposium volumes." —CHOICE "This book represents the first, broadly integrated look at the anatomical and physiological changes correlated with the origin of amniotes as evaluated against the cladistic relationships of the pertinent taxa." —TRENDS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION "...includes a very thorough review of the relevant evidence of relationships between fossil forms, but extends well beyond that. This thorough and profound integration of palaeontological and zoological approaches to the subject is one of the strengths of this symposium. Another is the breadth of coverage that results. This is going to be the standard reference on its subject for many years." —BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY "...this book goes beyond skeletal anatomy and phylogeny to explore many other facets of the transition from amphibious to truly terrestrial existence. ...the contributors have made a concerted attempt to generate testable hypotheses, and the editors have done an admirable job of tying this diverse range of topics into a coherent work. This volume will make a significant contribution to the construction of a research program for the future." —AMERICAN SCIENTIST "The editorship of Stuart Sumida and Karen Martin deserves great praise for a job well done. There is a wide number of areas covered, and most vertebrate palaobiologists will find something to enjoy or contest. This volume could well be of great use to physiologists in placing their field in a more holistic, certainly historical perspective. The origin of amniotes really is one of the most fundamental areas of vertebrate evolutionary studies and this book is a welcome addition." —GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE, 1999

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