DESCRIPTION
Comparative developmental physiology is a growing discipline examining a diversity of organisms as they transform from single cells to mature, reproductive individuals. This collection of original, innovative essays emerged from a Roundtable on Comparative Developmental Physiology held in Glen Rose, Texas in the summer of 2002. This meeting brought together investigators studying the physiology of developing animals in an effort to identify the field's potential contributions to biology. The participants honed in on common emerging themes and future goals, which are reflected in the chapters within. The nascent community of comparative developmental physiologists was challenged to amplify the power of data collection and tool development by focusing on a few select model organisms, while still employing the power of the broader, more traditional comparative approach.
Evolution has provided comparative developmental physiologists with remarkable biological diversity, which they have used to investigate a broad range of questions critical for understanding how life works. This goes beyond the basic nuts and bolts of cellular mechanisms to the functional whole, from the mechanistic level to behavior within and between organisms. The union of developmental biology with the breadth of comparative physiology holds much promise for a deeper understanding of evolutionary processes.
CONTENTS
Contributors
Introduction
1. Pulmonary Surfactant, Cell Culture and Tissue Regeneration as Models for Understanding the Evolution of Developmental Physiology
2. In Vivo and Functional Imaging in Developmental Physiology
3. Models for Embryonic Respiration
4. Physiology, Development, Genetics and the Evolution of Pheno-typic Plasticity: Studies with Butterfly Eyespots
5. The Role of Developmental Plasticity in Comparative Physiology: Mechanism and Process
6. The Physiological Basis for Metabolic Scaling In Animals: A Developing Perspective
7. Developmental Costs and the Partitioning of Metabolic Energy
8. Temperature-Induced Developmental Plasticity In Ectotherms
9. Developmental Physiology: Its Importance For Environmental Conservation And Biomedical Research
10. Practical Applications Derived from Basic Developmental Studies
11. Sciomics: Community/Model Organism-Based And Individualistic Research Strategies For Comparative Animal Developmental Physiology
12. Complexity Change During Physiological Development
13. A Physiological Approach to Heterochrony
Index.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Stephen J. Warburton is an Associate Professor of Biology at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona.
Warren W. Burggren is a Professor of Biology at the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas.
Bernd Pelster is a Professor in the Institute for Zoology and Limnology, Austria.
Carl L. Reiber is an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
John Spicer is a Reader in Marine Biology at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Plymouth, UK.
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