Schaum's outline of theory and problems of ZOOLOGY

• Main Author: Jessop, Nancy M (Author)
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: New York McGraw-Hill Book 1988; ©1988
• Subjects: Zoology
• Online Access: Click Here to View Status and Holdings.

 Zoology, the scientific study of animal life, is a fundamental discipline within the biological sciences. It deals with the animal world from unicellular protozoans to complex invertebrates and vertebrates: prismatic array of adaptations and patterns of bodily organization. In addition, zoology explores basic processes of nutrition and integration. and the genetic mechanisms of continuity and change by which animals both propagate their kind and undergo adaptive modifications through time. This Outline of zoology is intended to serve either as a concise, economical text which can be used on its own for college and university courses in general zoology, or as a supplement and study guide to accompany more comprehensive textbooks in general biology, general zoology, invertebrate zoology, and vertebrate zoology. In keeping with the scientific spirit of inquiry, this book takes the form of a series of questions and answers. As an aid to self-study, many of these text questions can be looked upon as sample examination questions, and their answers as representative short essay examination responses. The answers given are based upon scientific methods of description or experimentation, but they should not be considered definitive, since all "answers" formulated by scientists must be held subject to revision in the light of new discoveries. Furthermore, when there is a practical need to formulate concise answers to complex questions, those answers cannot help being somewhat oversimplified and in complete. Writing this Outline has proven especially challenging, since stringent requirements of brevity and conciseness have necessitated unflagging exercise of personal judgment as to which vital areas of zoological lore must be woefully abridged or omitted. In making these difficult decisions, I have been guided by the conviction that a short text devoted to the study of animal life should place its greatest emphasis on animals. Accordingly. chapters have been devoted to reasonably thorough considerations of the particular characteristics and biotic contributions of the major animal groups or phyla; each of these to the chapters includes the organismal biology and ecological considerations germane to animal group in question. The remaining nine chapters of the Outline (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 23, 24, and 25) present concise introductions to scientific methodology, structural or ganization of cells and organisms, basic chemistry, paleontological data, genetic and evolutionary mechanisms, embryonic development, nutritional processes in cells and organisms, integrative mechanisms, and ecological principles. Despite the impressive volume of zoological data amassed to date, we should keep in mind that zoology, like other sciences, is a discipline in motion, constantly subject to revision and reinterpretation, and that zoologists, like other people, often find themselves in lively disagreement. As a case in point, the taxonomic grouping of animals on the basis of relatedness has long been an area of spirited contention, so that both students and authors come to feel frustrated by the plethora of contradictory schemes of classi fication found throughout the zoological literature. In due time, this confusion will subside as biochemical analysis of each species' genetic material provides quantitative means exact definition. Until then, both students and practitioners of zoology do well to cultivate a flexible outlook by which differing systematic constructs are seen as mere milestones along the tortuous route toward fuller understanding of the history and interrelationships of the animal world as we see it today. The taxonomic usages favored herein are not necessarily more correct than those favored by other authors; all may be subject to eventual modification on the basis of DNA analyses. The important thing is to perceive and understand animals themselves, and not to dwell unduly upon the labels which humans bestow upon them, useful as these may be.