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Sensory Evolution on the Threshold – Adaptations in Secondarily Aquatic Vertebrates - California Scholarship Online
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Sensory Evolution on the Threshold: Adaptations in Secondarily Aquatic Vertebrates

J. G. M. Thewissen

Abstract

From crocodiles and penguins to seals and whales, this synthesis explores the function and evolution of sensory systems in animals whose ancestors lived on land. Together, the chapters explore the dramatic transformation of smell, taste, sight, hearing, balance, mechanoreception, magnetoreception, and electroreception that occurred as lineages of amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals returned to aquatic environments. Each chapter integrates data from fields including sensory physiology, anatomy, paleontology, and neurobiology. A one-stop source for information on the sense organs of seconda ... More

Keywords: sensory evolution, aquatic vertebrates, sensory biology, sensory physiology, anatomy, paleontology, neurobiology, mechanoreception, magnetoreception, electoreception

Bibliographic Information

Print publication date: 2008 Print ISBN-13: 9780520252783
Published to California Scholarship Online: March 2012 DOI:10.1525/california/9780520252783.001.0001

Authors

Affiliations are at time of print publication.

J. G. M. Thewissen, editor

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Contents

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Front Matter

Title Pages

Contributors

1 Introduction

J. G. M. Thewissen, and Sirpa Nummela

Chemical Senses

2 The Physics and Biology of Olfaction and Taste

Simo Hemilä, and Tom Reuter

3 The Chemical Stimulus and Its Detection

Heather L. Eisthen, and Kurt Schwenk

4 Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of Chemical Senses in Amphibians

John O. Reiss, and Heather L. Eisthen

5 Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of Chemical Senses in Nonavian Aquatic Reptiles

Kurt Schwenk

6 Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of Chemical Senses in Aquatic Birds

Tobin L. Hieronymus

7 Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of Chemical Senses in Aquatic Mammals

Henry Pihlström

Vision

8 The Physics of Light in Air and Water

Ronald H. H. Kröger

9 Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of Vision in Aquatic Tetrapods

Ronald H. H. Kröger, and Gadi Katzir

10 Structure and Function of the Retina in Aquatic Tetrapods

Tom Reuter, and Leo Peichl

Hearing

11 The Physics of Sound in Air and Water

Sirpa Nummela, and J. G. M. Thewissen

12 Comparative Anatomy and Function of Hearing in Aquatic Amphibians, Reptiles, and Birds

Thomas Hetherington

13 Hearing in Aquatic Mammals

Sirpa Nummela

Balance

14 The Physics and Physiology of Balance

Justin S. Sipla, and Fred Spoor

15 Comparative and Functional Anatomy of Balance in Aquatic Reptiles and Birds

Justin A. Georgi, and Justin S. Sipla

16 Comparative and Functional Anatomy of Balance in Aquatic Mammals

Fred Spoor, and J. G. M. Thewissen

Mechanoreception

17 The Physics and Physiology of Mechanoreception

Guido Dehnhardt, and Björn Mauck

18 Mechanoreception in Secondarily Aquatic Vertebrates

Guido Dehnhardt, and Björn Mauck

Magnetoreception and Electroreception

19 Magnetoreception

Michael H. Hofmann, and Lon A. Wilkens

20 Electroreception

Lon A. Wilkens, and Michael H. Hofmann

21 Toward an Integrative Approach

J. G. M. Thewissen, and Sirpa Nummela

End Matter

Index