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Males and females of many species can, and do, live separately for long periods of time. This sexual segregation is widespread and can be on social, spatial or habitat scales. An understanding of sexual segregation is important in the explanation of life history and social preference, population dynamics and the conservation of rare species. Sexual Segregation in Vertebrates explores the reasons why this behaviour has evolved and what factors contribute to it.
Males and females often differ in developmental patterns, adult morphology, ecology and behaviour, and in many mammals males are often larger. Size dimorphism results in divergent nutritional and energetic requirements or reproductive strategies by the sexes, which in turn sometimes causes them to select different forage, use different habitats, and express differing social affinities. Such divergent life-styles often lead males and females to live large parts of their lives separately. Sexual segregation is widespread in animals. Males and females may share the same habitat, but at different times, for example, or they might use different habitats entirely. Why did sexual segregation evolve and what factors contribute to it? Sexual Segregation in Vertebrates explores these questions by looking at a wide range of vertebrates and is aimed as a synthesis of our current understanding and a guide for future research.
Covering all thirteen species of wild cattle, Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour of Wild Cattle brings together the contributions of international leading experts on the biology, evolution, conservation status and management of the tribe Bovini, providing: • A comprehensive review of current knowledge on systematic, anatomy and ecology of all wild cattle species (chapters 1 to 8); • A clear understanding of the conservation status of each species and the gaps in our current knowledge (chapters 9 to 20); • A number of case studies on conservation activities and an investigation of some of the most threatened and poorly understood species (chapters 21 to 27). An invaluable resource for students, researchers, and professionals in behavioural ecology, evolutionary biology and conservation biology, this beautifully illustrated reference work reveals the extraordinary link between wild cattle and humans, the benefits some of these species have brought us, and their key roles in their natural ecosystems.
Males and females often differ in developmental patterns, adult morphology, ecology and behaviour, and in many mammals males are often larger. Size dimorphism results in divergent nutritional and energetic requirements or reproductive strategies by the sexes, which in turn sometimes causes them to select different forage, use different habitats, and express differing social affinities. Such divergent life-styles often lead males and females to live large parts of their lives separately. Sexual segregation is widespread in animals. Males and females may share the same habitat, but at different times, for example, or they might use different habitats entirely. Why did sexual segregation evolve and what factors contribute to it? Sexual Segregation in Vertebrates explores these questions by looking at a wide range of vertebrates and is aimed as a synthesis of our current understanding and a guide for future research.
There is extensive evidence that vertebrates of all classes have the ability to control the sexes of the offspring they produce. Despite dramatic differences in the mechanisms by which different taxa determine the initial sex of offspring, each group has found its own way of adjusting offspring sex ratios in response to social and environmental cues. For example, stress is a well-known modulator of offspring sex in members of all groups studied to date. Food availability, and limitation in particular, is another common cue that stimulates biases in offspring sex ratios in a wide variety of species. Offspring sex can be adjusted at the primary level, which occurs prior to conception, or at the secondary level, during embryonic development. While the mechanistic pathways that ultimately result in sex ratio biases and the developmental time-points sensitive to those mechanisms likely differ among taxa, the key involvement of steroid hormones in the process of sex ratio adjustment appears to be pervasive throughout. This book reviews the systems of sex determination at play in different vertebrate groups, summarizes the evidence that members of all vertebrate taxa can facultatively adjust offspring sex, and discusses when and how these adjustments can take place.
A look into the phenomena of sex and reproduction in all organisms, taking an innovative, unified and comprehensive approach.
This collection of 20 chapters written by leading evolutionary biologists from around the globe provides a fascinating insight into the patterns and causes of differences between males and females in the natural world.
A FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, SMITHSONIAN, AND WALL STREET JOURNAL A major reimagining of how evolutionary forces work, revealing how mating preferences—what Darwin termed "the taste for the beautiful"—create the extraordinary range of ornament in the animal world. In the great halls of science, dogma holds that Darwin's theory of natural selection explains every branch on the tree of life: which species thrive, which wither away to extinction, and what features each evolves. But can adaptation by natural selection really account for everything we see in nature? Yale University ornithologist Richard Prum—reviving Darwin's own views—thinks not. Deep in tropical jungles around the world are birds with a dizzying array of appearances and mating displays: Club-winged Manakins who sing with their wings, Great Argus Pheasants who dazzle prospective mates with a four-foot-wide cone of feathers covered in golden 3D spheres, Red-capped Manakins who moonwalk. In thirty years of fieldwork, Prum has seen numerous display traits that seem disconnected from, if not outright contrary to, selection for individual survival. To explain this, he dusts off Darwin's long-neglected theory of sexual selection in which the act of choosing a mate for purely aesthetic reasons—for the mere pleasure of it—is an independent engine of evolutionary change. Mate choice can drive ornamental traits from the constraints of adaptive evolution, allowing them to grow ever more elaborate. It also sets the stakes for sexual conflict, in which the sexual autonomy of the female evolves in response to male sexual control. Most crucially, this framework provides important insights into the evolution of human sexuality, particularly the ways in which female preferences have changed male bodies, and even maleness itself, through evolutionary time. The Evolution of Beauty presents a unique scientific vision for how nature's splendor contributes to a more complete understanding of evolution and of ourselves.
Published in association with The Wildlife Society.
This is a major new textbook that is intended to lead students away from purely descriptive zoology courses into an experimental approach that emphasizes asking and answering questions about nature. The book gives a panoramic view of vertebrate life, classification, ecology and behaviour. Section I of the book describes the major groups of vertebrates and their origins. The second section covers classification and its methodology. Section III describes the ecology of vertebrates from two standpoints: how individuals cope with environmental extremes, and principles of population and community ecology as illustrated by experiments carried out in the field. Section IV describes the geographic distribution of vertebrates. The fifth section discusses migration. Vertebrate behaviour is the subject of the final section and covers observations and the theories and experiments they have inspired.