Bøger i Tertiary Level Biology serien

Mammalian sociobiology is a rapidly advancing field which has made enormous strides in the last ten years. While I am fully aware that human beings are mammals, any detailed consideration of human social behaviour lies outside the scope of this book.

Fishes live in a world that is unfamiliar to us. Although we may make or even more advanced brief visits to this other world using a snorkel, scuba diving equipment, we can never become a part of it. Yet, an understanding of fish ecology requires an awareness of the relationships between fishes and their environment. The purpose of this book is to introduce the ecology of fishes by describing the inter-relationships between fishes and the aquatic habitats they occupy. The book can be read in complementary ways. A sequential reading, chapter by chapter, covers the main themes of ecology, including habitat use, species interactions, migration, feeding, population dynamics and reproduction in relation to the major habitats occupied by fishes. An alternative reading selects a particular sort of habitat, such as rivers, and, by using the index and skipping from chapter to chapter, builds up a picture of the ecology of fishes living in that habitat. The text is written for advanced students. Its emphasis is on descriptive rather than quantitative ecology. It is assumed that the reader will be familiar with the basic biology of fishes, acquired from a text such as The Biology of Fishes (Bone and Marshall, 1982) also published in the Tertiary Level Biology series. I would like to thank Dr J. D. Fish and two anonymous reviewers who, within a tight time-schedule, tried to improve the text. Any mistakes and shortcomings are my contribution.

Writing a textbook on microbial genetics in about 200 pages was un doubtedly a difficult task, but I have been encouraged by the response from both students and lecturers to the first edition.

The Progress in Medical Radiation Physics series presents in-depth reviews of many of the significant developments resulting from the application of physics to medicine.

Photosynthesis--the capture of light energy by living organisms -is a simple enough concept, but its investigation draws on the resources of disciplines from all fields of science. I have assumed that the reader is pursuing a course with a content of biochemistry, microbiology and plant science, or has access to basic texts.

This book is directed at advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students-and their teachers-who are involved in those areas of cell biology which require a basic knowledge of cytoskeletal structure, parti cularly with respect to cell motility.

Problems have been perceived, hypotheses have been formulated to explain them, facts have been amassed to test the hypotheses, more problems have been perceived, more hypotheses formu lated, and so on.

This book is directed at advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students-and their teachers-who are involved in those areas of cell biology which require a basic knowledge of cytoskeletal structure, parti cularly with respect to cell motility.

An introduction for advanced undergraduates and postgraduates in marine ecology, freshwater ecology, fish biology, fisheries ecology and aquaculture. It adopts a habitat-based approach, ranging from head waters to ocean depths, and from tropics to polar regions.

In the preface to the first edition ofthis book, we expressed a conviction that there was a need for a short book that highlighted important advances in the new discipline of plant molecular biology.

THE STUDY OF ANIMAL COMMUNICATION HAS TRADITIONALLY FORMED AN important part of the study of animal behaviour. Some excellent texts on animal communication are available, as are collected essays on the neural substrates of specific behaviour patterns, but none of these provides a broad synthesis of concepts in neuro physiology and behaviour.

In the last decade interest in this aspect of microbiology has developed greatly, and research findings have provided an understanding of the genetic, molecular and biochemical bases of development.

In the last few years there has been an excltmg upsurge in seabird research. Man's increased ex ploitation of natural resources has led to a greater awareness of the potential conflicts with seabirds, and of the use of seabirds to indicate the damage we might be doing to our environment.

Polar Ecology is one ecologist's attempt to sum up plant, animal and environmental relationships in the polar regions. I was grabbed in Antarctica by Adelie penguins, incubating contentedly at - 20 DegreesC with unmelting snow on their backs, and by minute black insects basking at lOoC in tufts of moss, while winds at - 15 DegreesC swept past unheeded.

In the last decade interest in this aspect of microbiology has developed greatly, and research findings have provided an understanding of the genetic, molecular and biochemical bases of development.

The authors have adopted a habitat-organismal approach because they believe that a knowledge of biota and major features of their environment is the best key to an understanding of both larger and smaller scale processes.

In the decade since the first edition of this book was published advances have been made in our knowledge of the fresh waters of the world, espe cially in understanding many of the processes involved in their functioning as systems and in countering the problems created by human activities.

The germination of seeds is a magical event, in which a pinch of dust-like material may give rise to all the power and the beauty of the growing plant. Plant physiologists attempt to understand the relation ship between plant form and function and to explain, in physical and chemical terms, plant growth and development.

In the decade since the first edition of this book was published advances have been made in our knowledge of the fresh waters of the world, espe cially in understanding many of the processes involved in their functioning as systems and in countering the problems created by human activities.

The germination of seeds is a magical event, in which a pinch of dust-like material may give rise to all the power and the beauty of the growing plant. Plant physiologists attempt to understand the relation ship between plant form and function and to explain, in physical and chemical terms, plant growth and development.

For the inhabitants of many of the world's major cities and towns, estuaries provide their nearest glimpse of a natural habitat; In spite of these problems, life in estuaries can be very abundant because estuarine mud is a rich food supply which can support a large number of animals with a large total weight and a high annual production.

Photosynthesis--the capture of light energy by living organisms -is a simple enough concept, but its investigation draws on the resources of disciplines from all fields of science. I have assumed that the reader is pursuing a course with a content of biochemistry, microbiology and plant science, or has access to basic texts.

Writing a textbook on microbial genetics in about 200 pages was un doubtedly a difficult task, but I have been encouraged by the response from both students and lecturers to the first edition.

It is now nine years since the first edition appeared and much has changed in marine science during that time. As in the first edition, PSM has been mainly responsible for the text and lIC for the illustrations, although each has responded to advice from the other and also from many colleagues.

There has therefore always been an awareness of the need for a good understanding of how microorganisms react in the environ ment, and this has been heightened from time to time as detrimental microbial activities become evident under certain conditions.

The study of solute transport in plants dates back to the beginnings of experimental plant physiology, but has its origins in the much earlier interests of humankind in agriculture.

In the preface to the first edition ofthis book, we expressed a conviction that there was a need for a short book that highlighted important advances in the new discipline of plant molecular biology.