Physiological Diversity (eBook)

Ecologists have always believed, at least to a certain extent, that
physiological mechanisms serve to underpin ecological patterns.
However, their importance has traditionally been at best
underestimated and at worst ignored, with physiological variation
being dismissed as either an irrelevance or as random noise/error.
Spicer and Gaston make a convincing argument that the precise
physiology does matter!

In contrast to previous works which have attempted to integrate
ecology and physiology, Physiological Diversity adopts a completely
different and more controversial approach in tackling the
physiology first before moving on to consider the implications for
ecology. This is timely given the recent and considerable interest
in the mechanisms underlying ecological patterns. Indeed, many of
these mechanisms are physiological.

This textbook provides a contemporary summary of physiological
diversity as it occurs at different hierarchical levels
(individual, population, species etc.), and the implications of
such diversity for ecology and, by implication, evolution. It
reviews what is known of physiological diversity and in doing so
exposes the reader to all the key works in the field. It also
portrays many of these studies in a completely new light, thereby
serving as an agenda for, and impetus to, the future study of
physiological variation.

Physiological Diversity will be of relevance to senior
undergraduates, postgraduates and professional researchers in the
fields of ecology, ecological physiology, ecotoxicology,
environmental biology and conservation. The book spans both
terrestrial and marine systems.