Principles of Thermal Ecology

Temperature, Energy and Life
Erscheinungsjahr 2015
ISBN: 978-0-19-955166-8
Verlag: Oxford University Press (UK)

Buch, Englisch, 478 Seiten, Format (B × H): 194 mm x 252 mm, Gewicht: 1147 g

Temperature affects everything. It influences all aspects of the physical environment and governs any process that involves a flow of energy, setting boundaries on what an organism can or cannot do. This novel textbook reveals the key principles behind the complex relationship between organisms and temperature, namely the science of thermal ecology. It starts by providing a rigorous framework for understanding the flow of energy in and out of the organism, before describing the influence of temperature on what organisms can do and how fast they can do it. With these fundamental principles covered, the bulk of the book explores thermal ecology itself, incorporating the important extra dimension of interactions with other organisms. An entire chapter is devoted to the crucially important subject of how organisms are responding to climate change. Indeed, the threat of rapid climatic change on a global scale is a stark reminder of the challenges that remain for evolutionary thermal biologists, and adds a sense of urgency to this book's mission.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Clarke, Andrew

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Tierkunde / Zoologie Tierökologie
• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Angewandte Ökologie
• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Biodiversität
• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- 1: Introduction

- 2: Energy and heat

- 3: Temperature and its measurement

- 4: Energy flow in organisms

- 5: Water

- 6: Freezing

- 7: Temperature and reaction rate

- 8: Metabolism

- 9: Temperature regulation

- 10: Endothermy

- 11: Torpor and hibernation

- 12: The Metabolic Theory of Ecology

- 13: Temperature, growth and size

- 14: Global temperature and life

- 15: Temperature and diversity

- 16: Global climate change and its ecological consequences

- 17: Ten principles of thermal ecology

Über Autor(innen)

Andrew Clarke studied zoology and geology at Cambridge University, spending the summer of 1968 supporting geological fieldwork in Svalbard. After graduating from Cambridge University in 1970 he joined the British Antarctic Survey and spent the next 40 years working in South Georgia, the South Orkney Islands, the Antarctic Peninsula, and the Antarctic continent with the occasional return trip to Svalbard, and retired in 2010. His main ecological interests centre on how animals and plants relate to temperature. He has worked primarily with marine invertebrates and fish, but also on birds, mammals, and most recently dinosaurs. He has written over 180 scientific papers.