Subterranean Rodents News from Underground [Hardcover]

Subterranean Rodents presents achievements from recent years of research on these rodents, divided into five sections: ecophysiology; sensory ecology; life histories, behavioural ecology and demography; environmental and economical impact; molecular ecology and evolution. It is a must for all researchers working in this field and will be of interest to zoologists, physiologists, morphologists, ecologists, and evolutionary biologists.

Across the globe, about 250 species of rodents spend most of their lives in safe and stable, but dark, oxygen-poor and carbon dioxide-rich burrows, deprived of most of the sensory cues available aboveground. They have become fully specialized for a unique way of life in which foraging and breeding take place underground. The systematic research into adaptations of subterranean dwellers is only about two decades old, but it has rapidly intensified within the last few years, bringing insight into many aspects of the biology and evolution at different organization levels.

Subterranean Rodents presents achievements from the last years of research on these rodents, divided into five sections: ecophysiology; sensory ecology; life histories, behavioural ecology and demography; environmental and economical impact; molecular ecology and evolution. It is a must for all researchers working in this field and will be of interest to zoologists, physiologists, morphologists, ecologists, and evolutionary biologists.

Subterranean Rodents: News from Underground.- Ecophysiology.- Adaptive Physiological Mechanisms in the Underground Dwellers.- Microclimate in Burrows of Subterranean Rodents  Revisited.- New Data on Metabolic Parameters in Subterranean Rodents.- Skimping as an Adaptive Strategy in Social Fossorial Rodents: The Mole Vole (Ellobius talpinus) as an Example.- The Reproductive Physiology and Endocrinology of the African Mole-rats: with Special Reference to Southern Africlók