Arthropod Brains

Author : Nicholas James Strausfeld
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674046331
Total Pages : 849 pages
Book Rating : 4.37/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Arthropod Brains written by Nicholas James Strausfeld and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2012-01-02 with total page 849 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Descent of Man, Charles Darwin proposed that an ant’s brain, no larger than a pin’s head, must be sophisticated to accomplish all that it does. Yet today many people still find it surprising that insects and other arthropods show behaviors that are much more complex than innate reflexes. They are products of versatile brains which, in a sense, think. Fascinating in their own right, arthropods provide fundamental insights into how brains process and organize sensory information to produce learning, strategizing, cooperation, and sociality. Nicholas Strausfeld elucidates the evolution of this knowledge, beginning with nineteenth-century debates about how similar arthropod brains were to vertebrate brains. This exchange, he shows, had a profound and far-reaching impact on attitudes toward evolution and animal origins. Many renowned scientists, including Sigmund Freud, cut their professional teeth studying arthropod nervous systems. The greatest neuroanatomist of them all, Santiago Ramón y Cajal—founder of the neuron doctrine—was awed by similarities between insect and mammalian brains. Writing in a style that will appeal to a broad readership, Strausfeld weaves anatomical observations with evidence from molecular biology, neuroethology, cladistics, and the fossil record to explore the neurobiology of the largest phylum on earth—and one that is crucial to the well-being of our planet. Highly informative and richly illustrated, Arthropod Brains offers an original synthesis drawing on many fields, and a comprehensive reference that will serve biologists for years to come.

Author : A. P. Gupta
Publisher : Wiley-Interscience
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 616 pages
Book Rating : 4.31/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Arthropod Brain written by A. P. Gupta and published by Wiley-Interscience. This book was released on 1987-09-29 with total page 616 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive textbook and reference guide to the arthropod brain. The material is arranged logically in three sections. Section I, on evolution, includes a discussion on the presence of a fourth component, tetrocerebrum in the insect brain in addition to the three commonly recognized parts, and the evolutionary trends in the central and mushroom bodies in major arthropod groups. A section on structure and function includes detailed ultrastructural studies of the brain as well as studies of the mechanoreceptory centers, peripheral sensory coding and sensilla function, and antennal information processing. Also examines biochemical topics such as bioamines and mucosubstances, their respective roles in brain function, and various techniques of brain research.

Author : David O. Kennedy
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199914028
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.29/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Plants and the Human Brain written by David O. Kennedy and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-01-09 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We're all familiar with the idea that plant-derived chemicals can have an impact on the functioning of the human brain. Most of us reach for a cup of coffee or tea in the morning, many of us occasionally eat some chocolate, some smoke a cigarette or take an herbal supplement, and some people use illicit drugs. We know a great deal about the mechanisms by which the psychoactive components of these various products have their effects on human brain function, but the question of why they have these effects has been almost totally ignored. This book sets out to describe not only how, in terms of pharmacology or psychopharmacology, but more importantly why plant- and fungus-derived chemicals have their effects on the human brain. The answer to this last question resides, in part, with the terrestrial world's two dominant life forms, the plants and the insects, and the many ecological roles the 'secondary metabolite' plant chemicals are trying to play; for instance, defending the plant against insect herbivores whilst attracting insect pollinators. The answer also resides in the intersecting genetic heritage of mammals, plants, and insects and the surprising biological similarities between the three taxa. In particular it revolves around the close correspondence between the brains of insects and humans, and the intercellular signaling pathways shared by plants and humans. Plants and the Human Brain describes and discusses both how and why phytochemicals affect brain function with respect to the three main groups of secondary metabolites: the alkaloids, which provide us with caffeine, a host of poisons, a handful of hallucinogens, and most drugs of abuse (e.g. morphine, cocaine, DMT, LSD, and nicotine); the phenolics, including polyphenols, which constitute a significant and beneficial part of our natural diet; and the terpenes, a group of multifunctional compounds which provide us with the active components of cannabis and a multitude of herbal extracts such as ginseng, ginkgo and valerian.

Author : Jeffrey Lockwood
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199374937
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.39/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Infested Mind written by Jeffrey Lockwood and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-09-25 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The human reaction to insects is neither purely biological nor simply cultural. And no one reacts to insects with indifference. Insects frighten, disgust and fascinate us. Jeff Lockwood explores this phenomenon through evolutionary science, human history, and contemporary psychology, as well as a debilitating bout with entomophobia in his work as an entomologist. Exploring the nature of anxiety and phobia, Lockwood explores the lively debate about how much of our fear of insects can be attributed to ancestral predisposition for our own survival and how much is learned through individual experiences. Drawing on vivid case studies, Lockwood explains how insects have come to infest our minds in sometimes devastating ways and supersede even the most rational understanding of the benefits these creatures provide. No one can claim to be ambivalent in the face of wasps, cockroaches or maggots but our collective entomophobia is wreaking havoc on the natural world as we soak our food, homes and gardens in powerful insecticides. Lockwood dissects our common reactions, distinguishing between disgust and fear, and invites readers to consider their own emotional and physiological reactions to insects in a new framework that he's derived from cutting-edge biological, psychological, and social science.

Author : Graham Hoyle
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 9781468469691
Total Pages : 594 pages
Book Rating : 4.9X/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Identified Neurons and Behavior of Arthropods written by Graham Hoyle and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-12-12 with total page 594 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Identified Neurons and Behavior of Arthropods presents for the larger audience the papers delivered at a symposium of the same title. I organized this symposium so that a few of the many who owe him a great scientific debt could honor Professor C. A. G. (Kees) Wiersma upon his attaining the age of 70 and retiring from the California Institute of Technology. Everyone of the participants publicly acknowledged his debt to Kees Wiersma, but in a sense there was no need to do so, because the research reported spoke for itself. Seldom in a rapidly developing branch of modem science has all of the recent progress so clearly stemmed from the pioneering work of a single figure. But in this subject, the role of identified nerve cells in determining behavior, Wiersma stood virtually alone for 30 years. He it was who first showed that indi vidual nerve cells are recognizable and functionally important and have "per sonalities" of their own.

Author : Snodgrass R. E.
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780243808748
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.47/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Evolution of Arthropod Mechanisms written by Snodgrass R. E. and published by . This book was released on 1901 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Robert E. Snodgrass
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 77 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Evolution of Arthropod Mechanisms written by Robert E. Snodgrass and published by . This book was released on 1958 with total page 77 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Kenneth David Roeder
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780674608016
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.11/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Nerve Cells and Insect Behavior written by Kenneth David Roeder and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Insects are ideal subjects for neurophysiological studies. This classic volume relates the activities of nerve cells to the activities of insects, something that had never been attempted when the book first appeared in 1963. In several elegant experiments, Roeder shows how stimulus and behavior are related through the nervous system.

Author : Malcolm Burrows
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 712 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Neurobiology of an Insect Brain written by Malcolm Burrows and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 712 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reviews the advances in insect neurobiology in the last two decades and highlights the contributions of this field to our understanding of how nervous systems function in general. By concentrating largely on one insect, the locust, this book unravels the mechanisms by which a brain integrates the vast array of sensory information to generate movement and behavior. The author describes the structure and development of the insect brain, detailing the cellular properties of insect neurons and the way they are altered by neurosecretors. Insect movements are fully analyzed at the cellular level to illustrate particular features of integrative processing. Richly illustrated, this volume emphasizes how the brain of an insect can be an informative model for defining basic neural mechanisms, shared by other animals and man.

Author : Nicholas J. Strausfeld
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780040073431
Total Pages : 214 pages
Book Rating : 4.32/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Atlas of an Insect Brain written by Nicholas J. Strausfeld and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: