The extended organism : the physiology of animal-built structures / J. Scott Turner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Turner, J. Scott, 1951-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Animals--Habitations.

Animals.

Physiology.

Animals--Physiology.

Local Subjects:

Animals--Physiology.

Animals--Habitations.

Physical Description:

x, 235 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2000.

Summary:

Can the structures that animals build -- from the humble burrows of earthworms to towering termite mounds to the Great Barrier Reef -- be said to live? However counterintuitive the idea might first seem, physiological ecologist Scott Turner demonstrates in this book that many animals construct and use structures to harness and control the flow of energy from their environment to their own advantage. Building on Richard Dawkins's classic, The Extended Phenotype, Turner shows why drawing the boundary of an organism's physiology at the skin of the animal is arbitrary. Since the structures animals build undoubtedly do physiological work, capturing and channeling chemical and physical energy, Turner argues that such structures are more properly regarded not as frozen behaviors but as external organs of physiology and even extensions of the animal's phenotype. By challenging dealry held assumptions, a fascinating new view of the living world is opened to us, with implications for our understanding of physiology, the environment, and the remarkable structures animals build.

Contents:

1 The Organism's Fuzzy Boundary 1

2 Physiology Beyond the Organism 9

3 Living Architecture 26

4 Broth and Taxis 40

5 Then a Miracle Occurs... 54

6 Mud Power 80

7 As the Worm Turns 99

8 Arachne's Aqualungs 120

9 Manipulative Midges and Mites 142

10 Twist and Shout! 159

11 The Soul of the Superorganism 179

12 Love Your Mother 201.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [217]-228).

ISBN:

0674001516

OCLC:

42861860