Return to the Sea: The Life and Evolutionary Times of Marine Mammals / Edition 1

by Annalisa Berta, James L. Sumich, Carl Buell

Overview

Return to the Sea portrays the life and evolutionary times of marine mammals—from 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 lineages—some extinct, others extant but threatened—is 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520270572
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	04/25/2012
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Annalisa Berta is Professor in the Department of Biology at San Diego State University. She has served as the President of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, and Associate Editor of the scientific journal Marine Mammal Science.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xiii

1 Marine Mammals 1

Major Groups of Marine Mammals 2

Discovering, Naming, and Classifying Marine Mammals 4

Reconstructing the Hierarchy of Marine Mammals 5

Adaptations and Exaptations 11

What Is a Species and How Do New Species Form? 12

Where Do They Live and Why Are They Where They Are? 19

2 Past Diversity in Time and Space, Paleoclimates, and Paleoecology 29

Fossils and Taphonomy 29

The Discovery of the First Fossil Marine Mammal (a Whale) 30

The Importance of Fossils 32

How Do We Know the Age of a Fossil? 33

How Do We Know Where Marine Mammals Were? 33

Marine Mammal Diversity and Communities Through Time 36

What Led Marine Mammals Back to the Sea? 50

3 Pinniped Diversity, Evolution, and Adaptations 51

The Earliest Pinnipeds: Webbed Feet or Flippers? 53

Crown Pinnipeds 54

Desmatophocids: Extinct Phocid Relatives 59

Evolutionary Trends 60

Structural and Functional Innovations and Adaptations 61

Mating and Social Systems, Reproduction, and Life History 72

4 Cetartiodactylan Diversity, Evolution, and Adaptations 79

Early Whales Had Legs! 80

Crown Cetacea (Neoceti) 84

Evolutionary Trends 102

Structural and Functional Innovations and Adaptations 106

Mating and Social Systems, Reproduction, and Life History 121

5 Diversity, Evolution, and Adaptations of Sirenians and Other Marine Mammals 127

Walking Sea Cows! 128

Crown Sirenia 130

Evolutionary Trends 132

Structural and Functional Innovations and Adaptations 132

Mating and Social Systems, Reproduction and Life History 140

Desmostylians 141

Aquatic Sloths 142

Marine Otters 143

Polar Bears 147

6 Ecology and Conservation 151

What Marine Mammals Eat and What Eats Them 151

Interactions Between Human and Marine Mammals: Lessons Learned 159

Extinction: The Rule, Not the Exception 167

Glossary 175

Further Reading and Online Sources 185

Illustration Credits 191

Index 195

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Engaging. . . . Stimulating. . . . A compelling story of the history and biology of marine mammals that will delight while it informs readers."

—Bioscience

"A good introduction to marine mammal evolution."—The Guardian

Editorial Reviews

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

A good introduction to marine mammal evolution.

The Guardian

"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 - Bernd Wursig

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.

Marine Mammal Science - Carolina Loch

A good introduction to marine mammal evolution.

The Guardian - Ian Paulsen

Engaging. . . . Stimulating. . . . A compelling story of the history and biology of marine mammals that will delight while it informs readers.

Bioscience - Alexander J. Werth

"Engaging. . . . Stimulating. . . . A compelling story of the history and biology of marine mammals that will delight while it informs readers."

--Bioscience

"A good introduction to marine mammal evolution."--The Guardian

"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."--Marine Mammal Science

From the Publisher

"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

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. Return to the Sea is certainly one of those books.

Marine Mammal Science