Animal Eyes

Covers the way that various types of eyes work, from their optics to the behaviour they guide. This book considers the ways that eyes sample the world in space and time, and discusses the evolutionary origins of eyes.

---

"Animal Eyes" aims to provide a comprehensive account of all known types of eye. It takes the diversity of optical mechanisms as a framework, but many other aspects of the structure and function of eyes are examined. Visual ecology, for example, the way that eyes are specifically adapted to the lifestyles of the animals that bear them, is another important theme. The 'design philosophy' of eyes is explored, too: what are the physical constraints on the way that an eye performs its functions, and how are these addressed by the different types of eye? Early and closing chapters look at the properties of light critical to vision, and factors in eye adaptation like spatial resolution, sensitivity, and movement, while the central sections assess the capabilities of a wide variety of eye types. The book is not aimed at any one readership. It will be of value to undergraduates in Biology and Neuroscience programmes, and to anyone engaged in the study of vision at post-graduate level.
Students and practitioners of ophthalmology and optometry will find it interesting as a background to the study of the human eye, while optical physicists and engineers will find that nature has come up with some novel solutions.