Physiological and Ecological Adaptations to Feeding in Vertebrates
Buy a book... In Association with Amazon.co.uk
Author(s): J. M. Starck and T. Wang (Eds)
Publisher: Science Publishers
ISBN: 1578082463
Format: hardback
425pp
Price: £62.70
Review Date: 08 April 2005
Review: Feeding habits and strategies differ enormously between vertebrates; there is a wide range of foods from which to choose, all subject to availability. Some species exhibit extraordinary specialisations or modes of adaptation to environmental conditions. Recently a number of comparative studies have attracted model organisms to investigate particular physiological mechanisms that are shared among animals. This book brings together experts from a variety of fields from comparative morphology through ecological and molecular physiology, immunology and ecology who are involved in studies of different aspects of the gastrointestinal tract of vertebrates. The authors put forward a mechanistic, comparative and evolutionary understanding of how vertebrates have evolved and adapted to feed on diverse foods. They cover: comparative morphology, nutritional physiology, ecological physiology and the molecular mechanisms of food uptake.