BookHans Lambers, editor.
Summary: This book will appeal to an international audience as well as be irresistible to local readers. Anyone working or with an interest in Australia's arid zone should need ready access to this book. There is no equivalent publication out there at the moment, and this book has many authoritative chapters, richly illustrated with colourful material. The challenge of this book was to assemble current knowledge on particular topics and concepts, and principles relating to them. It is also forward-looking by identifying where there are gaps or inadequacies in knowledge, and where future research needs to be directed. Lead authors were encouraged to take such an approach; they had the opportunity to involve any author they considered appropriate. The final product should be a fabulous resource, also for university courses, especially at MSc level.
Contents:
Intro; Contents; Introduction; References; Seeing Red: Some Aspects of the Geological and Climatic History of the Australian Arid Zone; Introduction; Modern Setting; Measuring Redness; Atmospheric Oxygen; Early History (Precambrian); Middle History (Palaeozoic and Mesozoic); From Greenhouse to Icehouse in the Cenozoic; Geomorphic Evidence of Late Cenozoic Aridity in Central Australia; Drivers of Australian Aridity; Landscape Evolution; Aridity and Redness in Central Australia: Some Concluding Remarks; Acknowledgements; References; Evolutionary History; Introduction. An Operational Definition of StressTemperature Regulation; 'Adaptive Heterothermy'; Torpor; Water and Electrolyte Balance; The Quokka; Barrow Island Macropods; The Barrow Island Euro; Desert Wallabies; Seasonal Deficiencies of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Energy; Conclusion; Acknowledgements; Glossary; References; Ecophysiology of Australian Arid-Zone Reptiles; Introduction; Temperature Regulation; Water Turnover and Osmoregulation; Conclusion; Glossary; References; The Evolution, Physiology and Ecology of the Australian Arid-Zone Frog Fauna; Introduction; Frog Fauna of the Australian Arid Zone. Coping with Aridity: Physiological, Morphological and Behavioural AdaptationsCoping with Water Loss in an Arid Environment Without Burrowing; Burrowing Behaviour and Associated Morphologies as Adaptations to Aridity; Energetics of Dormancy While Waiting for Rain; Diets of Frogs in the Arid Zone; Population Density; How Do Frogs in the Arid Zone Speciate?; Call Structure and Evolution by Polyploidy in Arid-Zone Frogs: The Genus Neobatrachus; Conservation Status and Challenges for Arid Australian Anurans; Conclusions. Evolution and Biogeography of the Arid-Zone Frog FaunaDiversity and Biogeography of Arid-Zone Uperoleia Species; Diversity and Biogeography of Arid-Zone Platyplectrum Species; Diversity and Biogeography of Arid-Zone Neobatrachus Species; Diversity and Biogeography of Arid-Zone Pseudophryne Species; Diversity and Biogeography of Arid-Zone Notaden Species; Diversity and Biogeography of Arid-Zone Crinia Species; Diversity and Biogeography of Arid-Zone Limnodynastes Species; Diversity and Biogeography of Arid-Zone Litoria and Dryopsophus Species; Arid-Zone Frog Fauna: Overview. Origins and Diversification of the Arid-Zone BiotaAdaptation to Aridity; Species Persistence and Intraspecific Divergence; New Insights; Opportunities and Challenges; References; Mineral Nutrition of Plants in Australia's Arid Zone; Introduction; Mineral Nutrition of Acacia Species; Non-mycotrophic Plants; The Role of the Desert Crust in Nutrient Cycling; Termites and Their Symbionts as a Source of N; Metal-Accumulating Plant Species; Manganese; Nickel; Gold; Concluding Remarks; References; Ecophysiology of Australian Arid-Zone Marsupials; Introduction; The Nature of Stress.