Author awarded the Neill Medal by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (First awarded in 1859, he is the 63rd recipient). This is awarded triennially for publication(s) by a 'Scottish' naturalist done within the last five years.
Animal Architecture
Mike Hansell
Price: £39.00 (paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-850752-9
Publication date: 27 January 2005
334 pages, 7 halftones, 32 line illus., 234x156 mm
Series: Oxford Animal Biology Series
Search for
titles in the same series
 Comment on this title
|
Ordering |
Individual customers may:
order by phone, post, or fax.
Manufactured on Demand - stock will be supplied on a firm sale basis within 28 days
Teachers in UK and European schools (and FE colleges in
the UK):
|
This book is available in Oxford Scholarship Online
| Reviews |
| - 'Hansells long-held enthusiasm for the subject comes across in an easily read scholarly style. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, December 2005.' -
|
| Description | | - Why do animals build ?
- How do simple animals create architectural complexity?
- What is the impact of animal builders on ecosystems?
- Generously illustrated throughout
|
Construction behaviour occurs across the entire spectrum of the animal kingdom and affects the survival of both builders and other organisms associated with them. Animal Architecture
provides a comprehensive overview of the biology of animal building. The book recognizes three broad categories of built structure: homes, traps, and courtship displays. Even though some of these structures are
complex and very large, the behaviour required to build them is generally simple and the anatomy for building unspecialized. Standardization of building materials helps to keep building repertoires simple, while self-organizing effects help create complexity. In a case-study approach to function, insects demonstrate how homes can remain operational while they grow, spiderwebs illustrate mechanical
design, and the displays of bowerbirds raise the possibility of persuasion through design rather than just decoration. Studies of the costs to builders provide evidence of optimal designs and of trade-offs with other life history traits. As ecosystem engineers, the influence of builders is extensive and their effect is generally to enhance biodiversity through niche construction. Animal builders
can therefore represent model species for the study of the emerging subject of environmental inheritance. Building, and in particular building with silk, has been demonstrated to have important evolutionary consequences.
This book is intended for students and researchers in comparative animal biology, but will also be of relevance and use to the increasing numbers of architects and civil
engineers interested in developing ideas from the animal kingdom.
|
Readership: Researchers and students of animal behaviour, ecology, evolutionary biology and architecture.
| Contents |
1.
Functions
2.
Building materials: nature, origins, and processing
3.
Behaviour and anatomy
4.
Work organization and building complexity
5.
Mechanics, growth, and design
6.
Building costs, optimal solutions, and trade-offs
7.
Animal architects as ecosystem engineers
8.
Evolution
|
| Authors, editors,
and contributors |
Mike Hansell, University of Glasgow
|
The specification in this catalogue, including without
limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations,
and month of publication, was as accurate as
possible at the time the catalogue was compiled.
Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we
are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory.
Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
|
VIEW BASKET
