Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T22:35:34.025Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Adaptational Diversity of Desert Biota

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

John L. Cloudsley-Thompson
Affiliation:
(Emeritus Professor of Zoology, University of London) Department of Biology (Medawar Building), University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, England, UK.

Extract

The climatic similarity of desert environments everywhere has engendered parallelism and the evolution of ecological analogues in different regions of the world. This tends to mask the actual diversity of their inhabitants. Although biodiversity may be poor in the desert, at least compared with most other terrestrial ecobiomes, deserts are extremely vulnerable to degradation and therefore deserve as much as, or even more, consideration than many biologically richer habitats.

Type
Main Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Applin, D.G., Cloudsley-Thompson, J.L. & Constantinou, C. (1987). Molecular and physiological mechanisms in chronobiology—their manifestations in the desert ecosystem. Journal of Arid Environments, 13, pp. 187–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bauer, A.M. & Russell, A.P. (1991). Pedal specializations in dunedwelling geckos. Journal of Arid Environments, 20, pp. 4362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cloudsley-Thompson, J.L. (1971). The Temperature and Water Relations of Reptiles. Merrow, Watford, Herts, England, UK: vi + 159 pp., 4 pis & 15 text-figs.Google Scholar
Cloudsley-Thompson, J.L. (1975). Adaptations of Arthropoda to arid environments. Annual Reviews of Entomology, 20, pp. 261–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cloudsley-Thompson, J.L. (1979). Adaptive functions of the colours of desert animals. Journal of Arid Environments, 2, pp. 95104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cloudsley-Thompson, J.L. (1991). Ecophysiology of Desert Arthropods and Reptiles. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, Germany: x + 203 pp., 77 figs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cloudsley-Thompson, J.L. (1993). The Diversity of Desert Life. Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur, India: 94 pp., 16 text-figs.Google Scholar
Coineau, Y., Lancaster, N., Prodon, R. & Seely, M.K. (1982). Burrowing habits and substrate structure in ultra-psammophilous tenebrionid beetles of the Namib desert. Vie et Milieu, 12, pp. 125–31.Google Scholar
Cott, H.B. (1940). Adaptive Coloration in Animals. Methuen, London, England, UK: xxxii + 508 pp., 47 pls & 84 figs.Google Scholar
Crawford, C.S. (1981). Biology of Desert Invertebrates. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, Germany: xvi + 314 pp., 90 figs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edney, E.B. (1977). Water Balance in Land Arthropods. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, Germany: xii + 282, 109 figs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hadley, N.F. (1972). Desert species and adaptations. American Scientist, 60, pp. 338–47.Google Scholar
Hadley, N.F. (1974). Adaptational biology of desert scorpions. Journal of Arachnology, 2, 1123.Google Scholar
Louw, G.N. & Seely, M.K. (1982). Ecology of Desert Organisms. Longman, London, New York: 194 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Luke, C. (1986). Convergent evolution of lizard toe fringes. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 27, pp. 252–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
May, R.M. (1978). The dynamics and diversity of insects. Pp. 188204 in Diversity of Insect Faunas: Symposia of the Royal Entomological Society of London, 9 (Eds L.A. Mound & N. Waloff).Google Scholar
Pianka, E.R. (1986). Ecology and Natural History of Desert Lizards. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA: x + 201 pp., illustr.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seely, M.K. (1978). The Namib dune desert: an unusual ecosystem. Journal of Arid Environments, 2, pp. 117–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherman, P.W., Jarvis, J.U.M. & Alexander, R.D. (Eds) (1991). The Biology of the Naked Mole Rat. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA: 529 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Wallwork, J.A. (1982). Desert Soil Fauna. Praeger, New York, NY, USA: x +296 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Watson, R.T. (1989). Niche separation of Namib Desert dune Lepismatidae (Thysanura: Insects): detritivores in an allochthonous detritus ecosystem. Journal of Arid Environments, 17, pp. 3748.CrossRefGoogle Scholar