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More than three hundred million years ago-a relatively recent date in the two billion years since life first appeared-vertebrate animals first ventured onto land. This usefully illustrated book describes how some finned vertebrates acquired limbs, giving rise to more than 25,000 extant tetrapod species. Michel Laurin uses paleontological, geological, physiological, and comparative anatomical data to describe this monumental event. He summarizes key concepts of modern paleontological research, including biological nomenclature, paleontological and molecular dating, and the methods used to infer phylogeny and character evolution. Along with a discussion of the evolutionary pressures that may have led vertebrates onto dry land, the book also shows how extant vertebrates yield clues about the conquest of land and how scientists uncover evolutionary history.

Vertebrates --- Evolution. --- acanthostega. --- acquired limbs. --- actinopterygians. --- adaptation. --- character evolution. --- dinosaurs. --- evolution. --- evolutionary history. --- evolutionary processes. --- evolutionary science. --- extant species. --- extant vertebrates. --- extinct animals. --- finned vertebrates. --- fossils. --- geology. --- life on earth. --- life sciences. --- limbs. --- molecular dating. --- nonfiction. --- paleontological dating. --- paleontology. --- phylogeny. --- popular science. --- science. --- tetrapods. --- vertebrate animals. --- vertebrates. --- zoology.

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African ecosystems comprise a wealthy repository of biodiversity, with a high proportion of native and endemic plant species, which makes them biologically unique and providers of a wide range of ecosystem services. A large part of African populations, in both rural and urban areas, depend on plants for their survival and welfare, but many ecosystems are being degraded, mostly due to the growing impacts of climate change and other anthropogenic actions and environmental problems. Loss of habitat and biodiversity affects livelihoods, water supply and food security and reduces the resilience of ecosystems in the African continent. The knowledge about the great African plant and ecosystem diversity, and the structure, composition and processes involved in vegetation dynamics, is crucial to promote their sustainable use and to preserve one of the most understudied regions in the world. This Special Issue aimed to gather contributions that update and improve such knowledge.

ecotone --- fire --- forest core --- habitat preference --- Ngel Nyaki --- niche partitioning --- savannah --- species sorting --- torus translation --- vegetation --- aridification in NW Africa --- Macaronesian islands --- distribution patterns --- West African Monsoon (WAM) --- vascular flora --- African potato --- conservation --- commercialization --- cultivation --- Hypoxidaceae --- medicinal plant --- unsustainable harvesting --- wild harvesting --- woodland --- miombo --- savanna --- diversity --- disturbance --- Baikiaea --- biogeographic vicariance --- extinction --- phylogenomics --- gene shopping --- gene capture --- molecular dating --- Africa --- biome --- RADseq --- Monechma --- Justicia --- phylogeny --- plant diversity --- Bia Tano Forest Reserve --- gap --- regeneration --- species composition --- species diversity --- wildfires --- MODIS burnt area product --- WWF ecoregions --- land cover --- Miombo woodlands --- biodiversity conservation --- sub-Saharan Africa --- flora --- tropical biodiversity

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African ecosystems comprise a wealthy repository of biodiversity, with a high proportion of native and endemic plant species, which makes them biologically unique and providers of a wide range of ecosystem services. A large part of African populations, in both rural and urban areas, depend on plants for their survival and welfare, but many ecosystems are being degraded, mostly due to the growing impacts of climate change and other anthropogenic actions and environmental problems. Loss of habitat and biodiversity affects livelihoods, water supply and food security and reduces the resilience of ecosystems in the African continent. The knowledge about the great African plant and ecosystem diversity, and the structure, composition and processes involved in vegetation dynamics, is crucial to promote their sustainable use and to preserve one of the most understudied regions in the world. This Special Issue aimed to gather contributions that update and improve such knowledge.

Research & information: general --- Biology, life sciences --- ecotone --- fire --- forest core --- habitat preference --- Ngel Nyaki --- niche partitioning --- savannah --- species sorting --- torus translation --- vegetation --- aridification in NW Africa --- Macaronesian islands --- distribution patterns --- West African Monsoon (WAM) --- vascular flora --- African potato --- conservation --- commercialization --- cultivation --- Hypoxidaceae --- medicinal plant --- unsustainable harvesting --- wild harvesting --- woodland --- miombo --- savanna --- diversity --- disturbance --- Baikiaea --- biogeographic vicariance --- extinction --- phylogenomics --- gene shopping --- gene capture --- molecular dating --- Africa --- biome --- RADseq --- Monechma --- Justicia --- phylogeny --- plant diversity --- Bia Tano Forest Reserve --- gap --- regeneration --- species composition --- species diversity --- wildfires --- MODIS burnt area product --- WWF ecoregions --- land cover --- Miombo woodlands --- biodiversity conservation --- sub-Saharan Africa --- flora --- tropical biodiversity

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This book focuses on systematics, biogeography, and evolution of arachnids, a group of ancient chelicerate lineages that have taken on terrestrial lifestyles. The book opens with the questions of what arachnology represents, and where the field should go in the future. Twelve original contributions then dissect the current state-of-the-art in arachnological research. These papers provide innovative phylogenomic, evolutionary and biogeographic analyses and interpretations of new data and/or synthesize our knowledge to offer new directions for the future of arachnology.

Research & information: general --- Biology, life sciences --- Microbiology (non-medical) --- BioGeoBEARS --- Caatinga --- dispersal --- Galapagos --- Neotropical --- speciation --- spiders --- tropical dry forests --- vicariance --- coin spider --- Nephilidae --- phylogenomics --- biogeography --- dispersal probability --- Arthropoda --- circular reasoning --- investigator bias --- paleontology --- Arachnida --- tissue --- X-rays --- micro-CT --- cerebrum --- nervous system --- neuroanatomy --- imaging --- Araneae --- biodiversity --- community ecology --- elevation --- Pantepui --- species turnover --- Tetragnatha --- dynamic disperser --- intermediate dispersal model of biogeography --- GAARlandia --- Tetragnathidae --- taxonomy --- taxonomic crisis --- species concepts --- data management --- monographic research --- molecular phylogeny --- divergence time --- relict group --- Linyphiidae --- phylogeny --- Caribbean biogeography --- arachnid --- araneae --- Micrathena --- long distance dispersal --- distribution --- diversity --- Salticidae --- target sequencing --- reduced representation sequencing (RRS) --- spider phylogenomics --- deep phylogeny --- molecular dating --- ancestral range analysis --- endemics --- founder-event --- intermediate dispersal model --- n/a --- Research. --- Biology. --- Microbiology.