Vertebrates, Third Edition               by Ken Kardong
		About the Book

Updates to the Third Edition

Phylogenetic Approach
Vertebrate groups are placed within a phylogenetic framework. This vertebrate phylogeny is established in Chapter 3, and then the evolution of organ systems refer to this phylogeny in subsequent chapters.

New Fossils and Phylogenies
Within the last few years, remarkable fossils have been discovered, some at the very dawn of vertebrate evolution. Others mark the evolution of dinosaurs and the birds that emerged within them. Analyzed by cladistic means, these fossils, together with larger data bases of features, provide a clarifying picture of vertebrate evolution. These new phylogenies have been incorporated, especially as they revise our understanding of early vertebrate evolution, the early evolution of tetrapods, and the taxonomic relationships of reptiles.

Form and Function
Vertebrate morphology continues to benefit from new and advanced technologies that permit evaluation of performance, how form and function meet demands of the environment. These new views on function have been incorporated, especially on flight, terrestrial locomotion, respiratory mechanisms, cardiovascular performance, and the nervous system.

Chapter Overviews
An overview has been added to the ends of most chapters. To claim the material as their own, students may compose, under their own efforts, a summary of the factual information within chapters. This engages them in the material, focuses their reading, and makes them active learners. To aid this effort, I have provided overviews, general review of the material, drawing attention to the major conceptual points and their implications developed within the chapter.

1. Introduction
   The popular historical overview has been retained to survey the parallel development of evolutionary and morphological theory. However, the geological time scales have been updated. "Tools of the Trade" preserves a discussion of technology that serves morphological studies, including the basic methodology of cladistics.

2. Origin of Chordates
   Evidence derived from anatomical and molecular (DNA, proteins) clues provide new insight into chordate origins and relationships. These are included along with new figures and text.

3. The Vertebrate Story
   Science is a process of ongoing research. Nowhere, perhaps, is that more evident than in phylogenetics, the analysis of vertebrate relationships. Construction of phylogenetic hypotheses, via cladistics, is one of the major additions to functional and evolutionary morphology. Thus the basics are included. However, as with other subjects, I leave it to the individual instructors to decide what to emphasize in their courses. Challenges to existing phylogenies arrive almost every Monday morning with the publication of new journals carrying new phylogenies. For example, as I wrote (rewrote) the phylogenies of early vertebrates, I had half a dozen phylogenies, many contradictory, from which to choose. This is as it should be within such a vigorous area newly armed with the important techniques of phylogenetics. Here competing phylogenies, techniques, and data bases (morphological, molecular) are rivals to insight into animal evolution. But it means that students need to be prepared for new phylogenies as they arrive almost daily rather than commit one to memory forever. It also means they need to remember that rigorous and careful taxonomists produce phylogenies no better than the tricky molecular or morphological data bases from which they are built. This chapter includes these newer phylogenies, and introduces students to the major taxonomic groups that express the radiation within vertebrate historical lineages.

4. Biological Design
   Biomechanics and biophysics, even simple principles, provide remarkable insights into animal design. This chapter provides some simple principles, illustrates them, and then returns to these in later chapters where they can be applied. This also represents one of the important changes in the study of animal (and plant) architecture and functional morphology. As in other disciplines, quantitative analyses have become a larger part in the biological treatment of organisms.

5. Life History
   This chapter has been edited, material added, and new illustrations prepared. In particular, amphioxus embryology is re-illustrated, heterochrony has been rewritten and re-illustrated, and the historical significance of the "biogenetic law" revisited.

6. Integument
   A section on horse hooves has been added, accompanied by new art, and the horn and antler illustrations have been revised.

7. Skull
   The text in this chapter has received extensive revision, incorporating new information, and bringing the discussion of the skull within a current phylogenetic context. Many of the figures have been relabeled and revised, and new art has been included on the evolution of the synapsid skull. This further supports the extraordinary story of the evolutionary transformation of bones of the skull from feeding to hearing functions.

8. Axial Skeleton and Appendicular Skeleton
   These chapters maintain the successful integration of anatomy and function. The transition from water to land is followed, and the recent theories of the intermediate stages discussed. Many of the figures have been revised to improve their presentation and accuracy. A new section with accompanying art is included on flight aerodynamics, correcting the widely misunderstood views attributed to Bernoulli. The human skeleton is especially considered for the unique engineering problems presented by the upright carriage of our own axial and appendicular skeletons.

9. Muscular System
   Figures have been rearranged and labeled to better present special aspects of the muscular system. The text has been revised to clarify the explanations and more accurately represent current views.

10. Respiratory System
    Along with updating revisions of the text, the figures have been revised to better illustrate functional and evolutionary aspects of the respiratory system. A revised discussion of gill and lung ventilation clarifies the basic methods of respiration, especially in vertebrates transitional between water and air.

11. Circulatory System
    To improve presentation, many figures have been revised and rearranged. New art is included that shows the evolution of the major aortic arch system. The text has been edited and updated throughout.

12. Digestion, Urogenital, and Endocrine
    These chapters have been updated, with many figures modified and special attention paid to the revision of ruminant digestion. Castration not only produces better horses and roosters, but also better opera singers, as we are told in a Chapter 15 boxed essay.

13. Nervous System
    The functional significance of parts of the nervous system has been extensively revised, especially of the higher brain centers. The tables and figures have been edited, and the evolution of the vertebrate cerebral hemispheres revised.

14. Sensory Organs
    Illustrations in this chapter have been revised to improve clarity and detail. Further, the evolution of the tympanic ear has been completely revised, bringing this up to date and giving notice to the multiple times such a vertebrae ear evolved.

15. Conclusions
    The concluding chapter again brings together the larger issues illustrated throughout the textbook and summarizes the modern themes of evolutionary and functional biology.

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