Adaptations to Terrestrial Environments

The present volume contains selected papers of the International Symposium on Adaptations to Terrestrial Environment, held in Halki­ diki, Greece from Sept 26th to Oct 2nd, 1982. The meeting was designed to consider the means as weIl as the mechanisms whereby organisms adapt to their environment. The papers presented dealt with a large variety of species from insects up to and including mamrnals. What became apparent during the course of the meeting was the incredible variety of means that organisms use to survive in their particular environmental niche. The ploys utilized are almost as numerous as the number of species investi­ gated. This will become clearly apparent in the accompanying manu­ scripts which are published in this book. The Editors allowed the authors of the accepted papers great leeway in terms of the thorough­ ness of their contributions. Some of the presentations contain exclusively new findings, whereas others extensively review the existing literature. The Volume is divided into two parts: Invertebrates and Verte­ brates. The first provides information on adaptations of inverte­ brat es on environmental stresses (such as low er high temperatures and water deficits) from the physiological and/or biochemical points of view as weIl as behavioral responses resulting from their life strategies and interactions with other organisrns. In the second part papers selected deal with vertebrates. Adaptations to special environmental factors such as light and temperature are discussed as weIl as behavioral, physiological and biochemical solutions to problems imposed. Front Matter....Pages i-viii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Limiting Similarity in Rove Beetles (Col. Staphylinidae) of a Habitat Inland....Pages 3-11 Low Temperature Induced Diapause Still Extant in a Tropical Parasitoid Species....Pages 13-16 Cold Tolerance in Canadian Arctic Insects....Pages 17-29 Seasonal Activity of Soil Fauna in a Phryganic (East Mediterranean) Ecosystem....Pages 31-43 Comparative Studies of Orthopteran Species Adapted to Living on the Ground and of Some Strong Fliers from the Same Order....Pages 45-59 Adaptation Insect — Plant in Cynipid Galls....Pages 61-68 Adaptation of Gall Mites (Acari, Eriophyoidea) to Live in Galls....Pages 69-75 Diversity and Unity by Arthropod Galls. An Example: The Bud Galls....Pages 77-87 Front Matter....Pages 89-89 Altruism, Inclusive Fitness, and Evolutionary Game Theory....Pages 91-108 Antipredator Adaptations of Salamanders: Evolution and Convergence Among Terrestrial Species....Pages 109-133 The Inter-Nesting Interval of Zakynthos Loggerheads....Pages 135-144 Reproduction Strategies in Birds of the Tropics....Pages 145-164 Nutritionally Related Metabolic Adaptations of Carnivores and Ruminants....Pages 165-180 Superoxide Dismutase Activity in the Rat Exposed to Extreme Environmental Conditions....Pages 181-192 Adaptations of the Reproductive System of Rodents to Changing Photoperiodic Conditions....Pages 193-201 Endocrine Cycles and Hibernation in the Hedgehog: Mechanisms of Adaptation to Natural Variations in the Environment....Pages 203-217 Comparative Mechanisms of Physiological, Metabolical and Eco-Ethological Adaptation to the Winter Season in two Wild European Mammals: The European Badger ( Meles meles L.) and the Red Fox ( Vulpes vulpes L.)....Pages 219-233 Back Matter....Pages 235-247