Animal athletes : an ecological and evolutionary approach / Duncan J. Irschick, Timothy E. Higham.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Irschick, Duncan J., author.

Higham, Timothy E., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Animals.

Vertebrates.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (267 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford, England ; New York, New York : Oxford University Press, 2016.

Summary:

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 themin 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.

Contents:

Cover; Contents; 1 Animal performance: An overview; 1.1 Why study performance?; 1.2 Definitions of performance; 1.3 The hierarchical nature of biological systems; 1.4 Variability, repeatability, and heritability; 1.5 The ecological context of performance; 1.6 The evolution of performance; 1.7 Behavior and performance; 1.8 Mechanistic and energetic constraints on performance; 2 The ecology of performance I: Studies of fitness; 2.1 Natural selection, sexual selection, and performance; 2.2 Path diagrams of selection; 2.3 Definitions of fitness

2.4 Quantifying the impact of natural and sexual selection2.5 Does high performance result in higher fitness?; 2.6 Is selection on morphology stronger than for performance capacity?; 2.7 Manipulative studies of animal performance and selection; 2.8 Complex forms of selection on performance; 3 The ecology of performance II: Performance in nature; 3.1 Why study animal performance in nature?; 3.2 What is ecological performance?; 3.3 Impact of behavior on ecological performance; 3.4 Environmental impacts on ecological performance; 3.5 What percentage of maximum capacity do animals use in nature?

3.6 Emergent behaviors in the field: Defying physiological constraints3.7 Slackers and overachievers: Behavioral compensation in nature; 4 The ecology of performance III: Physiological ecology; 4.1 Environmental influences on performance; 4.2 Energetics and movement; 4.3 Aerobic versus anaerobic metabolism; 4.4 Born to run: Variation among animal species in the energetics of movement; 4.5 Feel the burn: Harmful byproducts of movement; 4.6 Temperature and animal performance; 4.7 Acclimation and temperature; 4.8 The ecological context of temperature

5 The evolution of performance I: Mechanism and anatomy5.1 Mechanistic limits on performance; 5.2 The mechanism and anatomy of trade-offs; 5.3 Variation in anatomical structure as a foundation of animal performance; 5.4 Creative arrangement of anatomical structure to enable high performance in suboptimal settings; 5.5 Anatomical structure as a way of overcoming physical limits; 5.6 Highly specialized performance: How do they do that?; 5.7 Elastic mechanisms for powering rapid movements; 6 The evolution of performance II: Convergence, key innovations, and adaptation

6.1 How does performance evolve?6.2 Quantitative analysis of evolutionary data; 6.3 A model for understanding the evolution of performance; 6.4 Convergent evolution of morphology and performance traits; 6.5 Tinkering and animal performance: How variation among species has resulted in evolution of novel performance capacities; 6.6 Key innovations, adaptive radiation, and the invasion of novel habitats; 7 Trade-offs and constraints on performance; 7.1 Trade-offs, performance, and optimization; 7.2 Why expect a trade-off?; 7.3 Trade-offs within and among species

7.4 Mechanical constraints on performance

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references at the end of each chapters and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed January 19, 2016).

ISBN:

0-19-107493-4

0-19-107492-6

OCLC:

919855816