Ecophysiology of the Camelidae and Desert Ruminants

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-X

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2. Introduction

   • Richard Trevor Wilson

   Pages 1-3

3. Deserts and the Desert Environment

   • Richard Trevor Wilson

   Pages 4-12

4. Temperature and Heat Relations

   • Richard Trevor Wilson

   Pages 13-41

5. Water Balance and Kidney Function

   • Richard Trevor Wilson

   Pages 42-93

6. Nutrition

   • Richard Trevor Wilson

   Pages 94-103

7. Back Matter

   Pages 104-120

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I have spent less time in the arid zone in the last few years than I did during the 1960's, 1970's and early 1980's. This results from a progression through age and a career structure which gradually shifted the emphasis of my work from being essentially field-oriented to essentially office-hound. When, therefore, I was asked by John Cloudsley-Thompson to undertake the writing of this hook I hesitated for two reasons. One reason was that, although I now had access to good library facilities and kept up with the literature on the arid zones and their fauna, I was not sure that a sedentary and pleasant life in a temperate highland island in tropieal Africa would provide a mental attitude suitable to writing a hook which related to areas where life is usually nomadie and often extremely disagreeable. The other reason was that I was uncertain whether I could devote the time necessary to researehing and writing the hook on top of my professional (which now specifical­ ly excluded research in the arid zones and on camels) and social (new-found and time-consuming) commitments. In the event I accepted and the fates were kind to me. By some peculiar combination of circumstances I was given the opportunity to spend a considerable part of the first half of 1988 in some of the driest areas of the globe. I had already visited all of the locations used for the construction of Fig. 2.

• adaptation
• desert
• ecophysiology
• environment
• nutrition
• physiology
• thermoregulation

• Umberleigh, North Devon, UK

  Richard Trevor Wilson

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