Marine Mammals

Annalisa Berta is Professor of Biology in the Department of Biology at San Diego State University, San Diego, California and a Research Associate at the San Diego Natural History Museum in San Diego, California and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. She is an evolutionary biologist who for the last 30 years has been studying the anatomy, evolution and systematics of fossil and living marine mammals, especially pinnipeds and whales. She is a past President of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology and former Senior Editor of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology and Associate Editor of Marine Mammal Science. She has written 100 scientific papers and several books for the specialist as well as non-scientist including Return to the Sea: The Life and Evolutionary Times of Marine Mammals, 2012, (University of California Press) and the forthcoming book (summer, 2015) Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises: a natural history and species guide (University of Chicago Press). James Sumich is Professor Emeritus of Biology at Grossmont College and is the author of a popular book on gray whales. He has conducted research on gray whales from British Columbia to Baja California for four decades and has taught marine mammal course for nearly that long. His research has focused on the ecological physiology of baleen whales, especially the energetics of their seasonal fasting migrations. Kit M. Kovacs is the Biodiversity Research Program Leader for the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø Norway and a Professor of Biology at University Studies on Svalbard (UNIS). She has worked with marine mammals in Polar Regions for the past 30 years, focusing primarily on studies in the fields of behavioral ecology and population biology. The impact of climate change on ice-associated species has been a topic of principal concern in recent years in her research projects. She is author/co-author of more than 200 primary publications and the author/editor of ten books and numerous popular articles.

• Part I: EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY Phylogeny, Taxonomy and ClassificationPinniped Evolution and SystematicsCetacean Evolution and SystematicsSirenians and Other Marine Mammals: Evolution and SystematicsEvolution and Geography Part II: EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIORIntegumentary, Sensory and Urinary SystemsMusculoskeletal System and LocomotionEnergeticsRespiration, diving and breathhold physiologySound production for communication, echolocation and preyDiet, Foraging Structures, and StrategiesReproductive Structures, Strategies and PatternsPopulation Structure and DynamicsPart III: Exploitation, Conservation, and ManagementExploitation, Conservation, and ManagementAppendix: Classification of Marine Mammals For families of marine mammals: diagnosis, definition, distribution, fossil history, content (species level)

"...has been fully updated and improves significantly upon the excellent foundations in the 2nd edition. ...I highly recommend this book for students and researchers alike. ...any time I find myself wandering into unknown territory, my first instinct is to grab this volume off my shelf." --Journal of Mammalian Evolution"...outclasses several other competing works, which tend to showcase marine mammals as special cases instead of focusing on the comparative and historical methods that demonstrate how they evolved…a necessary book for both beginners and experts. Students will find it readable, authoritative, and appealing with its extensive imagery." --The Quarterly Review of Biology"I highly recommend this book for veterinary students or veterinarians at the start of their careers in marine mammal medicine or research who are looking for a supplemental reference on marine mammal biology." --Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association"We should thank the authors for the great effort they have made to gather all the diverse information available and to present it in a highly comprehensive book, and one that can only be recommended to all readers interested in this challenging field." --M. S. Fischer, Jena, JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGICAL SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTIONARY RESEARCH"...deals with the evolution of marine mammals in detail, and the remainder of the book is a good, solid guide to their complex biology. That said, Marine mammals: evolutionary biology will certainly be popular with students, because it is clearly and concisely written, and intelligently illustrated." --CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS"...the book does represent a good reference source that I will certainly use myself, and it will serve those who teach these themes extremely well. Berta et al. deserve to be congratulated for this comprehensive tome - it is a thorough, precise and clearly written reference that will serve admirably those interested in the evolution of marine mammals." --Corey J.A. Bradshaw, School for Environmental Research, Charles Darwin University, POLAR RESEARCH