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The Thermal Warriors: Strategies of Insect Survival
by Bernd Heinrich
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Harvard University Press (1996-10-01)
ISBN: 0674883403
EAN: 9780674883406
Dewy Decimal #: 595.701
Hardcover: 240 pages
SKU: H6548
Condition: Very Good
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
All bodily activity is the result of the interplay of vastly complex physiological processes, and all of these processes depend on temperature. For insects, the struggle to keep body temperature within a suitable range for activity and competition is often a matter of life and death. A few studies of temperature regulation in butterflies can be found dating back to the late 1800s, but only recently have scientists begun to study the phenomenon in other insects. In The Thermal Warriors Bernd Heinrich explains how, when, and in general what insects regulate their body temperature and what it means to them. As he shows us, the ingenuity of the survival strategies insects have evolved in the irreducible crucible of temperature is astonishing: from shivering and basking, the construction of turrets (certain tiger beetles), and cooling with liquid feces to stilting (some desert ants and beetles), "panting" in grasshoppers and "sweating cicada," and counter- and alternating-currents of blood flow for heat retention and heat loss. In The Thermal Warriors Heinrich distills his great reference work, The Hot-Blooded Insects, to its essence: the most significant and fascinating stories that illustrate general principles, all conveyed in the always engaging prose we have come to expect from this author.
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Customer Reviews
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Fascinating!!!
Rating  (5)
Date: 2003-09-08
6 out of 6 customers found this reveiw helpful
Really neat info on how insects keep warm/cool down and why they move in those ways - shivering, bouncing, etc. The text is really easy to read and interesting to get into - the drawings sprinkled in throughout help make understanding that much easier. I don't have a science background - just have an insatiable hunger to learn about our natural world and this book definitely filled one corner of that hunger......Ever see a dragonfly stand up like its doing a headstand? Well its not because it like the head rush (or maybe that too but the book doesn't talk to that) - the reason they do that is on p. 66 - "When the sun is directly overhead some dragonflies assume the 'oblisk' position, which minimizes surface area exposed to solar heating while maximizing the area available for convective cooling." ....all to say, it was a hot day and the dragonfly needed to cool down :) Excellent book!
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Unusual topic well presented
Rating (5)
Date: 2002-11-27
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
The thermodynamics of insects, from flight and thermoregulation to "thermal wars" between predator and prey. This is fascinating hard science presented in a user-friendly format. Short and pithy.
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Excellent information, easy to understand
Rating (5)
Date: 2000-10-18
7 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
Bernd Heinrich has brought us yet another book that appeals both to the complete layperson and the scientist and provides enough detail and entertainment to keep both happy. The Thermal Warriors provides a fascinating look into the details of insect thermodynamics. Did you know that bees and most other flying insects have to shiver their muscles to warm-up their engines before flying because their flight muscles are adapted to work best at flight temperatures? Did you know that some butterflies have to stop and rest frequently on even moderately sunny days to keep from overheating? Heinrich has taken his in-depth experience in this field and created a summary version for those that want to know more, but don't have any interest in wading through a 600 page monolith. The book is split up into different "problems" that insects must overcome to achieve flight, be active in different environments, and utilize different body shapes and sizes. He explains the physics of the various problems encountered and adaptations to overcome the problems in an easy to read manner. He frequently uses car engine analogies to help things make more sense. My only qualm with this book is that it was over too soon!
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