Description
Book SynopsisPhysiological ecology has grown in importance as an area of biology in the past thirty years and integrates the diverse approaches used in the comparative biology of organisms. Biologists segregate their approaches by technique and concept, but the...
Trade ReviewIs there a message that can be distilled from this large, comprehensive, and probably defining book? I think there is....The analysis of ecological energetics and their effects are complicated by interactions. This could be the message for biology as a whole, and is in large part why the study of the living world is so interesting and challenging. McNab has written a very good book and one that is likely to be of considerable influence and use to a broad readership, not just those with a direct interest in energetics.
* Journal of Mammalogy *
As stated in the foreword by James Brown, this book is a 'masterful synthesis of the current state of physiological ecology.' In addition, delightfully, it is interestingly presented and very readable; in fact, once into a section it is hard to put down.... Strongly recommended for university libraries, and to upper-division undergraduates, graduate zoology majors, and professionals in this or related areas.
* Choice *
Brian McNab is a giant in the field of ecological energetics and has influenced most current researchers in the field, whether they want to admit it or not... The Physiological ecology of vertebrates is a wondeful reference, and I highly recommend it. Researchers and teachers active in the field should have a copy of this on their shelves. I read this book from cover to cover, forfeiting pulp-fiction reading over the summer. I do not regret it at all.
* Ecology *
NcNab redresses a perceived absense of a theoretical framework with a comparative, inductive approach to studying vertebrate evolution and ecology... Suitable for advanced students and researchers in the biological and ecological sciences.
* Book News *
This is a scholarly book that is accessible at many levels to undergraduates, graduates, and professionals. It also seems to be unique in its field. It is quite interesting and is highly recommended for all research libraries collecting in the biological sciences.
-- Susan Kendall * E-Streams *
This work is indeed a major compilation, and synthesis of a subject badly in need of such attention. I predict that it will stand as an important reference work for decades. By sheer weight of its authority, it is not useful as an undergraduate text but with nonetheless be valued by those who teach the subject for coverage of concepts and empirical illustrations.
-- Eric T. Schultz * Copeia *
