Invertebrates [Hardcover]

Richard C. Brusca (Author), Gary J. Brusca (Author), Nancy J. Haver (Illustrator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0878930973 | ISBN-13: 978-0878930975 | Publication Date: January 1, 2003 | Edition: 2

Invertebrates, Second Edition presents a modern survey of the 34 animal phyla (plus the Protista) and serves as both a college course text and a reference on invertebrate biology. Thorough and up-to-date, it is organized around the themes of bauplans (body plans) and evolution (phylogenetics). Each phylum is organized in a standardized fashion, treating the systematics, bauplan (support and movement, feeding and digestion, circulation and gas exchange, excretion and osmoregulation, nervous system, reproduction and development), and phylogeny. Detailed classifications, phylogenetic trees, and references for all phyla are provided. Tables summarize each phylum's defining attributes. The text is accompanied by an abundance of detailed line drawings and new to this edition color photographs. Other key changes from the First Edition (1990) include: <P>* the incorporation of new developments in phylogenetics, developmental biology, and molecular genetics <BR>* major changes at the highest levels among the invertebrates. Three phyla that appeared in the original book—Pentastomida, Pogonophora, and Vestimentifera—no longer exist, and a new phylum, Cycliophora, has been erected. Moreover, this edition discusses recent work in molecular systematics that has shaken classic views on animal classification. <BR>* a large new section on "Kingdom Protista" (replacing "Protozoa") containing new contemporary views of these organisms (arranged in 18 phyla).

Editorial Reviews

Review

In terms of cost, completeness and scholarship, I find this text to be the best available. --Peter W. Glynn, Bulletin of Marine Science

The second edition of Invertebrates ... combines old and new with great success and makes a strong and useful contribution to modern perspectives on the invertebrates. ... this edition is strengthened by many attractive color photographs of diverse organisms or structures. ... This book's strengths lie in its phylogenetic approach, description and illustration of structural anatomy, and discussion of organism traits. ... I can highly ... recommend this book to all biologists and students interested in a modern perspective on invertebrate structure and evolutionary relationships." --Richard B. Emlet, Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin

About the Author

RICHARD C. BRUSCA is Director of Conservation and Research at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, and also holds adjunct research positions at the University of Arizona and CIAD (Centro de Investigacion en Alimentacion y Desarrollo), Mexico. Dr. Brusca is a widely recognized invertebrate zoologist, marine biologist, and Sea of Cortez and Sonoran Desert naturalist. - The late GARY J. BRUSCA was Professor Emeritus at Humboldt State University. For 35 years he focused his research on the ecology and systematics of hyperiid amphipods, also writing on a variety of other subjects in journals and textbooks.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 936 pages
• Publisher: Sinauer Associates; 2 edition (January 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878930973
• ISBN-13: 978-0878930975
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #51,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Zoology > Invertebrates

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Well, It has a nice picture on the cover., March 23, 2003

By 

Ronald L. Shimek (Wilsall, Montana USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Invertebrates (Hardcover)

This invertebrate text is a mixed bag. Although the date on the Author's Preface is 2002, very few references more recent than 1997 are cited. The treatment is also very uneven. As expected given the authors' interests, the Arthropod treatment is done pretty well, but pretty much all the other major phyla are poorly treated. For example, reading the mollusk section is like entering a time warp; the gastropod systematic treatment is straight out of 1970s and the minor classes are perhaps worse. Within the molluscan overall framework, seminal works such as the Ponder and Lindberg treatment of gastropods are ignored, and the minor molluscan groups far no better; nothing more recent than references in the 1970s have obviously been consulted for the Scaphopods and although more recent references are listed for the Aplacophora and other minor classes the treatment is equally weak.

Similar problems are apparent within other major taxa as well.

Although the authors have tried to include some modern phylogentic analyses, the more recent data (from say, 1998 through at least 2000) that should have been included are totally absent.

Compared to the first edition, the text has many new illustrations; in fact, that seems to be the major positive addition over the earlier addition.

The book seems to have relatively few typographical errors.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invertebrates - the definitive reference but without molecul, November 25, 2000

By 

Howard Schneider (Thornhill, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: BRUSCA:INVERTEBRATES (German Edition) (Hardcover)

This large, comprehensive book is actually very suitable for the general reader. Concepts are explained well. Excellent line drawings accompany the text. The book starts off with general concepts, then covers the protozoa and then the placazoa (Trichoplax). It is suggested, as others have also speculated, that Trichoplax perhaps represents a surviving descendant of a premetazoan ancestor. The book then goes on to cover the sponges, cnidaria, ctenophora, platyhelminthes, pseudocolelomates, numerous chapters on worms, arthropoda, mollusca, etc, and finishes off with the invertebrate deuterostomes (including echinodermata, hemichordata and chordata). This book lacks recent molecular results, but nonetheless remains an excellent reference on the invertebrates.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Book!, August 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: BRUSCA:INVERTEBRATES (German Edition) (Hardcover)

This is a really amazing book. Goes way beyond the usual listing of features often found in comparative zoology type books, and pulls out underlying themes. Moreover, it is written in a way that makes for relaxing reading. Even the obligatory section on "why we should care about taxonomy" was an interesting read, not the chore that it tends to be in books like this. Excellent illustrations, good enough to make it a coffee-table book, but also has clear explanations and a wealth of information. This book will be a classic.