Description: In our own juvenile stage, many of us received our wide-eyed introduction to the wonders of nature by watching the metamorphosis of swimming tadpoles into leaping frogs and toads. The recent alarming declines in amphibian populations worldwide and the suitability of amphibians for use in answering research questions in disciplines as diverse as molecular systematics, animal behavior, and evolutionary biology have focused enormous attention on tadpoles. Despite this popular and scientific interest, relatively little is known about these fascinating creatures.
In this indispensable reference, leading experts on tadpole biology relate what we currently know about tadpoles and what we might learn from them in the future. Tadpoles provides detailed summaries of tadpole morphology, development, behavior, ecology, and environmental physiology; explores the evolutionary consequences of the tadpole stage; synthesizes available information on their biodiversity; and presents a standardized terminology and an exhaustive literature review of tadpole biology.Brief description: Roy W. McDiarmid is a research zoologist and curator of amphibians and reptiles for the U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, at the National Museum of Natural History.
Ronald Altig is a professor of biological science at Mississippi State University.Review Quotes: "The book comprises twelve chapters by forteen authors, plus a glossary, an extensive bibliography (70 pages!), and three indices (author, subject, and taxonomic). Contents are organized topically: an introductory chapter by the editors is followed by one or more treatments of "standard" topics (morphology, neurobiology, physiology, behavior, and ecology), plus two chapters that address the origin, evolution, and maintenance of the anuran larva (and of the complex life history in general) as well as its loss through direct development and related reproductive modes. The final chapter, also by the editors, provides a detailed compendium of tadpole diversity (mostly anatomical, but also ecological) at the levels of families and genera. Several chapters provide valuable and significant contributions, either by compiling and summarizing existing information from very diverse literature (both classical and recent), or by offering novel syntheses and highlighting important problems deserving of further study."-- "Evolution & Development"