Plant-Animal Interactions: An Evolutionary Approach - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0632052678 ISBN 13: 9780632052677

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2002

Synopsis

Interactions between plants and animals are incredibly diverse and complex and span terrestrial, atmospheric and aquatic environments. The last decade has seen the emergence of a vast quantity of data on the subject and there is now a perceived need among both teachers and undergraduate students for a new textbook that incorporates the numerous recent advances made in the field. The book is intended for use by advanced level undergraduate and beginning graduate students, taking related courses in wider ecology degree programmes.

• Very few books cover this subject and those that do are out of date.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Ever since Darwin’s depiction on the final page of The Origin of Species of a tangled bank teeming with plants and animals, the importance of species interactions in molding their ecology ad evolution has become ever more apparent. Attraction, deception, attack, defense, escape and tolerance- all are core terms of evolutionary ecology that convey the central role of interactions. The diversity of structure, behavior, psychology, and ecology among plants and animals reflects the outcomes of antagonistic and mutually beneficial relationships. In fact, much of the extraordinary diversity of plants and animals on the planet derives from their interactions.

Plant-Animal Interactions: an evolutionary approach is intended for graduate and upper-level undergraduate courses. Following a general introduction emphasizing the role of interactions in the evolution of biodiversity, chapters are devoted to the fossil record-plant-animal interactions, herbivory by insects and vertebrates, seed predation, pollination and seed dispersal by animals, ant-plant interaction, and synthesis that describes emerging areas of study, including the pivotal role of plant-animal interactions in conservation biology.

About the Author

Carlos M. Herrera is an evolutionary ecologist who has worked mainly on plant-disperser and plant-pollinator interactions in Mediterranean habitats of the Iberian Peninsula. Most of his research centers on elucidating the relative significance of ecological, historical and evolutionary determinants in shaping current plant-animal interactions.

Olle Pellmyr is a revolutionary biologist whose research focuses on plant-animal interactions, with special emphasis on mutualism and co-evolution. Using phylogenetic and ecological approaches, he explores links between mircoevolutionary processes and microevolutionary patterns. A native of Sweden now residing in the USA, he has done field research in Europe, the Americas, Japan, Africa, and Melanesia.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0632052678
• ISBN 13: 9780632052677
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336
• Editor: Herrera Carlos M., Pellmyr Olle