{"product_id":"return-to-the-sea-9780520355521","title":"Return to the Sea","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReturn to the Sea portrays the life and evolutionary times of marine mammalsfrom giant whales and sea cows that originated 55 million years ago to the deep-diving elephant seals and clam-eating walruses of modern times. This fascinating account of the origin of various marine-mammal lineagessome extinct, others extant but threatenedis for the nonspecialist. Against a backdrop of geologic time and changing climates and geography, this volume takes evolution as its unifying principle to help us to understand today's diversity of marine mammals and their responses to environmental challenges. Annalisa Berta explains current controversies and explores patterns of change now taking place, such as shifting food webs and predator-prey relationships, habitat degradation, global warming, and the effects of humans on marine-mammal communities.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Wide-ranging and fact-packed. . . .Berta writes in an engaging, jargon-free style, which makes the book readily accessible to students and teachers at both the graduate and the undergraduate levels. . . . As useful as it is stimulating.” * Bioscience *\u003cbr\u003e“Berta did a superb job in bridging the gap between scientific knowledge and the general public. . . . Rarely does one have the opportunity to read a book that is written in an enjoyable and accessible way, scientifically accurate, and based in a wide and updated range of literature. \u003ci\u003eReturn to the Sea\u003c\/i\u003e is certainly one of those books.” * Marine Mammal Science *\u003cbr\u003e\"The writing is simple and informative, the line drawings and other illustrations are excellent, and we have here a primer of what it is to be a marine animal...\" * The Quarterly Review of Biology *\u003cbr\u003e“A good introduction to marine mammal evolution.” * The Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePreface\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 1. Marine Mammals\u003cbr\u003e Major Groups of Marine Mammals\u003cbr\u003e Discovering, Naming, and Classifying Marine Mammals\u003cbr\u003e Reconstructing the Hierarchy of Marine Mammals\u003cbr\u003e Adaptations and Exaptations\u003cbr\u003e What Is a Species and How Do New Species Form?\u003cbr\u003e Where Do They Live and Why Are They Where They Are?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 2. Past Diversity in Time and Space,Paleoclimates, and Paleoecology\u003cbr\u003e Fossils and Taphonomy\u003cbr\u003e The Discovery of the First Fossil Marine Mammal (a Whale)\u003cbr\u003e The Importance of Fossils\u003cbr\u003e How Do We Know the Age of a Fossil?\u003cbr\u003e How Do We Know Where Marine Mammals Were?\u003cbr\u003e Marine Mammal Diversity and Communities Through Time\u003cbr\u003e What Led Marine Mammals Back to the Sea?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 3. Pinniped Diversity, Evolution, and Adaptations\u003cbr\u003e The Earliest Pinnipeds: Webbed Feet or Flippers?\u003cbr\u003e Crown Pinnipeds\u003cbr\u003e Desmatophocids: Extinct Phocid Relatives\u003cbr\u003e Evolutionary Trends\u003cbr\u003e Structural and Functional Innovations and Adaptations\u003cbr\u003e Mating and Social Systems, Reproduction, and Life History\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 4. Cetartiodactylan Diversity, Evolution, and Adaptations\u003cbr\u003e Early Whales Had Legs!\u003cbr\u003e Crown Cetacea (Neoceti)\u003cbr\u003e Evolutionary Trends\u003cbr\u003e Structural and Functional Innovations and Adaptations\u003cbr\u003e Mating and Social Systems, Reproduction, and Life History\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 5. Diversity, Evolution, and Adaptations of Sirenians\u003cbr\u003e and Other Marine Mammals\u003cbr\u003e Walking Sea Cows!\u003cbr\u003e Crown Sirenia\u003cbr\u003e Evolutionary Trends\u003cbr\u003e Structural and Functional Innovations and Adaptations\u003cbr\u003e Mating and Social Systems, Reproduction and Life History\u003cbr\u003e Desmostylians\u003cbr\u003e Aquatic Sloths\u003cbr\u003e Marine Otters\u003cbr\u003e Polar Bears\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 6. Ecology and Conservation\u003cbr\u003e What Marine Mammals Eat and What Eats Them\u003cbr\u003e Interactions Between Human and Marine Mammals:\u003cbr\u003e Lessons Learned\u003cbr\u003e Extinction: The Rule, Not the Exception\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Glossary\u003cbr\u003e Further Reading and Online Sources\u003cbr\u003e Illustration Credits\u003cbr\u003e Index","brand":"University of California Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49402937147735,"sku":"9780520355521","price":18.9,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780520355521.jpg?v=1730481905","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/return-to-the-sea-9780520355521","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}