Biogeography of the West Indies: Patterns and Perspectives, Second Edition

Published:
June 27, 2001 by CRC Press - 608 Pages
Editor(s):
Charles A. Woods, Emeritus Curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History, U; Florence E. Sergile, Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, Florida, USA

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Hardback
$173.95
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ISBN 9780849320019
Cat# 2001
 

Features

  • Allows the reader broad access to data and interpretations focused on the major problems and patterns of West Indian biogeography
  • Covers taxonomic groups that best lend themselves to analyses of patterns and datasets comparing the various dispersal hypotheses, including overwater dispersal, land bridges, and vicariance patterns
  • Presents important new fossil finds that extend the known age of mammals in the West Indies
  • Clears up the confusion about several ambiguous taxonomic groups, including sloths, insectivores, and capromyid rodents
  • Provides new facts about lesser-known groups of plants and animals

    • Summary

    As a review of the status of biogeography in the West Indies in the 1980s, the first edition of Biogeography of the West Indies: Past, Present, and Future provided a synthesis of our current knowledge of the systematics and distribution of major plant and animal groups in the Caribbean basin. The totally new and revised Second Edition, Biogeography of the West Indies: Patterns and Perspectives, emphasizes recent ideas and hypotheses in the field and includes many new chapters and contributions. The authors use the broadest possible interpretations of the concepts of biogeography, consider anthropological and geological factors, and discuss the conservation of endemic species.

    Drawing together contributions from the leading experts in biogeography and biodiversity, this book introduces new patterns and developments that add to our understanding of how plants and animals are dispersed throughout the region. Many contributions use new techniques such as molecular systematics to test older studies based strictly on morphological data. Unique in its inclusion of a wide variety of organisms and in its coordination of scientific data and conservation strategies, Biogeography of the West Indies: Patterns and Perspectives, Second Edition provides the only encyclopedic discussion available on the biogeography of the Antilles.

    Table of Contents

    Introduction, C.A. Woods

    Biogeography of the West Indies: An Overview, S. Blair Hedges

    Climate Change in the Circum-Caribbean and Implications for Regional Biogeography, J. Curtis, M. Brenner, and D. A. Hodell

    Functional Adaptations to Island Life in the West Indies, B.K. McNab

    Phylogeny and Biogeorgraphy of Lyonia sect. Lyonia (Ericaceae), W.S. Judd

    Patterns of Endemism and Biogeography of Cuban Insects, J.A. Genaro and A. E. Tejuca

    Patterns in the Biogeography of West Indian Ticks, J. O. de la Cruz

    The Caribbean's Contribution to the Spider Fauna of Florida, J. Reiskind

    Rhysodine Beetles in the West Indies, R.T. Bell

    New Perspectives on the Biogeography of West Indian Butterflies: A Vicariance Model, J.Y. Miller and L.D. Miller

    Relationships and Divergence Times of West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles: Insights from Albumin Immunology, C.A. Hass, L.R. Maxson, and S. Blair Hedges

    The Historic and Prehistoric Distribution of Parrots in the West Indies, M.I. Williams and D.W. Steadman

    Early Tertiary Vertebrate Fossils from Seven Rivers, Parish of St. James, Jamaica, and Their Biogeographic Implications, R.W. Portell, S.K. Donovan

    The Sloths of the West Indies: A Systematic and Phylogenetic Review, J.L. White and R.D.E. MacPhee

    The Origin of the Greater Antillean Insectivorians, H.P. Whidden and R.J. Asher

    Systematics and Biogeography of the West Indian genus Solenodon, J.A. Ottenwalder

    Characterization of the Mitochondrial Control Region in Solenodon Paradoxus from Hispaniola and the Implications for Biogeography, Systematics, and Conservation Management, M.W. Allard, S.D. Baker, G.L. Emerson, C.W. Kilpatrick, and J.A. Ottenwalder

    Insular Patterns and Radiations of West Indian Rodents, C.A. Woods, R. Borroto Paez, and C.W. Kilpatrick

    Biogeography of West Indian Bats: An Ecological Perspective, A. Rodriguez-Durán and T.H. Kunz

    Patterns of Extinction in West Indian Bats, G.S. Morgan

    The Mongoose in the West Indies: The Biogeography and Population Biology of an Introduced Species, G.R. Horst, D.B. Hoagland, and C.W. Kilpatrick

    Status and Biogeography of the West Indian Manatee, L.W. Lefebvre, M. Marmontel, J.P. Reid, G.B. Rathbun, and D.P. Domning

    Historical Biogeography in Cuba: The 19th Century Interpretations and Misinterpretations, P.M. Pruna Goodgall

    Native American Use of Animals in the Caribbean, E.S. Wing

    The Prehistory and Early History of the Caribbean, S.M. Wilson

    Impact of Hunting on Jamaican Hutia (Geocapromys Brownii) Populations: Evidence from Zooarchaeology and Hunter Surveys, L. Wilkins

    Status of Conservation in Haiti: 10 Years After, F.E. Sergile and C.A. Woods

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