Lizards: Thermal Ecology, Genetic Diversity and Functional Role in Ecosystems

$95.00

Mindy P. Kiernan (Editor)

Series: Reptiles – Classification, Evolution and Systems
BISAC: SCI070010

Lizards utilize many different niches across a large variety of habitats. As a result of selective pressures exerted by the particular environments, many lizards in similar habitats have been shown to exhibit convergent morphologies. The performance of a lizard, or any organism for that matter, is a fundamental attribute employed in its survival, and therefore significantly impacts its fitness. The study of an organism’s functional capacity is fairly new, with relatively few studies published. In studies of lizard functional capacity, performance is most often defined as the whole organism’s ability to conduct an ecologically relevant task, and measures thereof have included sprint speed, bite force and locomotor endurance, amongst others.

Primarily, the study of whole-organism performance includes those performance aspects related to dynamic animal movements, and not more ‘passive’ performance aspects (such as immune function levels or reproductive output) or those performance traits measured within an organism (such as enzyme reaction rate). This book focuses on the thermal ecology, genetic diversity and functional role lizards have in ecosystems. It discusses the influence of light on visual discrimination of sexually dichromatic dewlap color in male and female brown anoles; the tolerance to thermal stress in lizard embryos; the functional role of Leiolepis guttata in wild and captive breeding ecosystems; the impact on habitat modifications of thermoregulation in coastal sand dunes; the convergence in morphology in lizards; and sexual dimorphism and thermoregulatory behaviour in the long-tailed spiny lizard. (Imprint: Novinka )

 

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 – The Influence of Light on Visual Discrimination of Sexually Dichromatic Dewlap Color in Male and Female Brown Anoles (pp. 1-28)
John E. Steffen (School of Science, Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, Erie, PA, USA)

Chapter 2 – Tolerance to Thermal Stress in Lizard Embryos (pp. 29-44)
Rosaria Scudiero, Maria Grazia Esposito and Palma Simoniello (Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, Napoli, Italy, and others)

Chapter 3 – Leiolepis guttata (Cuvier, 1829): From the Wild to the Captive Breeding – Ethology, Ecology and Its Functional Role in Ecosystems (pp. 45-74)
F. Malaisse, T. Tran, A.-J. Rochette, A. de Martynoff, E. Haubruge and A. Théwis (University of Liège, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Biodiversity and Landscape Unit, and others)

Chapter 4 – Thermoregulation in Coastal Sand Dunes: Impacts of the Habitat Modification on the Wiegmann‘s Lizard (pp. 75-98)
Carolina Block, Oscar A. Stellatelli, Laura E. Vega, Félix B. Cruz, Germán O. García and Juan P. Isacch (Laboratorio de Vertebrados, Departamento de Biología, Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), CONICET – Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and others)

Chapter 5 – Convergence in Morphology Is Preceded by Convergence in Performance in Lizards (pp. 99-120)
Shelley Edwards (Applied Biodiversity Research Division, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Cape Town, South Africa, and others)

Chapter 6 – Sexual Dimorphism and Thermoregulatory Behaviour in the Long-Tailed Spiny Lizard, Sceloporus siniferus from Mexico (pp. 121-142)
April K. Ansell, Rodolfo Garcia-Collazo, Catalina B. Chavez Tapia and Frank F. Mallory (Department of Biology, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, and others)

Index

 

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