A Practical Guide to Vertebrate Mechanics

This book, first published in 1999, takes a hands-on approach to the functional morphology of vertebrates.

Christopher McGowan (Author)

9780521576734, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 February 1999

316 pages, 170 b/w illus.
25.5 x 18.3 x 2 cm, 0.665 kg

' … this book will be very useful for lecturers and students in zoology, anatomy, physiology, and palaeontology with interest in kinetic activity of vertebrates.' H. Petry, Institut für Physiologie, Physiologische Chemie und Tierernährung

A thorough understanding of the form, function, and design of animals is essential to any working biologist's knowledge. In the author's view, however, this fast-growing field of study can be made much more exciting and accessible with a hands-on, practical approach. This is the view of A Practical Guide to Vertebrate Mechanics. This text, first published in 1999, can be considered an engineering book for biologists. The emphasis is on vertebrates, and each topic begins with a discussion of the underlying principles, followed immediately by practical experiments and laboratory exercises. It begins with a refresher on scaling and measurement, followed by three chapters on the mechanical properties of materials. This leads the discussion to animal materials, which serves to illustrate principles of structure and load, lubrication, physiology, metabolism, and stamina. Finally, the book puts the systems in motion, discussing terrestrial locomotion, flight, and swimming. A Practical Guide to Vertebrate Mechanics will form an important part of undergraduate and beginning graduate courses for zoology, anatomy, biomechanics, and paleontology students.

Preface
Introduction
1. A matter of scale
2. Elasticity
3. Measuring the strengths of materials
4. How things break
5. Bone as a composite material
6. Structures and loads
7. Engineering a skeleton
8. Friction, lubrication and joints
9. Muscles: the driving force of skeletons
10. Terrestrial locomotion
11. Fluid flow
12. Flight and flying
13. Swimming and swimmers
Appendix: chapter notes and responses to questions
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Zoology: Vertebrates [PSVW], Physiology [MFG]