Ecophysiology of Desert Arthropods and Reptiles

This is the second book of a Springer series on the adaptations of desert organisms (the first was R.T. Wilson's Ecophysiology of the Camelidal! and Desert Ruminants in 1989). It is entirely appropriate to deal with arthropods and reptiles together: both are in a sense pre-adapted to desert living because they possess relatively waterproof integuments, excrete insoluble nitrogenous waste, are ectotherms with low metabolic rates, and are small enough to escape from enviromnental extremes. Both groups are highly successful in deserts throughout the world, and desert lizards in particular have had a major influence on the discipline of ecophysiology.