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Homeostasis in Desert Reptiles Softcover Repri Edition
Contributor(s): Bradshaw, Sidney Donald (Author)
ISBN: 364264368X     ISBN-13: 9783642643682
Publisher: Springer
OUR PRICE:   $104.49  
Product Type: Paperback
Published: September 2011
Qty:
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Science | Life Sciences - Ecology
- Science | Life Sciences - Zoology - General
- Literary Collections | Middle Eastern
Dewey: 571.1
Series: Adaptations of Desert Organisms
Physical Information: 0.49" H x 6.14" W x 9.21" (0.73 lbs) 213 pages
Themes:
- Topical - Ecology
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
Deserts, whether hot or cold, are considered to be one of the most difficult environments for living systems, lacking the essential free water which ac- counts for approximately 60-70% of their body mass and more than 98% of their constituent atoms {Macfarlane 1978}. Amongst vertebrates, reptiles are usually thought of as the animals most adapted or suited to such environments because of their diurnal habit, based on a need for external heat, and their ability to survive far from obvious sources of water. This impression is rein- forced when one examines the composition of vertebrate faunae characteristic of deserts and arid zones: reptiles predominate and they are often the only vertebrates to be found in hyper-arid areas, such as some parts of the Sahara {Monod 1973}. I recently had occasion to examine this assumption carefully, however, and was led inexorably to the conclusion that reptiles represent a particularly successful desert group, not because of their evolution of superior adaptations, but because of their possession of a basic suite of behavioural and physiologi- cal characteristics that suit them uniquely to this very resource-limited environment {Bradshaw 1986a}. These fundamental reptilian characteristics are: 1. their low rates of metabolism, compared with birds and mammals, which result in extremely low rates of resource utilisation and lead to considerable economy in the handling of water 2.