Birds have and continue to fascinate scientists and the general public. While the avian respiratory system has unremittingly been investigated for nearly five centuries, important aspects on its biology remain cryptic and controversial. In this book, resolving some of the contentious issues, developmental-, structural- and functional aspects of the avian lung-air sac system are particularized: it endeavors to answer following fundamental questions on the biology of birds: how, when and why did birds become what they are? Flight is a unique form of locomotion. It considerably shaped the form and the essence of birds as animals. An exceptionally efficient respiratory system capacitated birds to procure the exceptionally large quantities of oxygen needed for powered (active) flight. Among the extant air-breathing vertebrates, comprising ~11,000 species, birds are the most species-rich-, numerically abundant- and extensively distributed animal taxon. After realizing volancy, they easily overcame geographical obstacles and extensively dispersed into various ecological niches where they underwent remarkable adaptive radiation. While the external morphology of birds is inconceivably uniform for such a considerably speciose taxon, contingent on among other attributes, lifestyle, habitat and phylogenetic level of development have foremost determined the novelties that are displayed by diverse species of birds. Here, critical synthesizes of the most recent findings with the historical ones, evolution and behavior and development, structure and function of the exceptionally elaborate respiratory system of birds are detailed. The prominence of modern birds as a taxon in the Animal Kingdom is underscored. The book should appeal to researchers who are interested in evolutionary processes and how adaptive specializations correlate with biological physiognomies and exigencies, comparative biologists who focus on how various animals have solved respiratory pressures, people who study respiration in birds and other animals and ornithologists who love and enjoy birds for what they are – profoundly interesting animals.

In biology, few organs have been as elusive as the lung-air sac system of birds. Considerable progress has recently been made to fill the gaps in the knowledge. While summarizing and building on earlier observations and ideas, this book provides cutting-edge details on the development, structure, function, and the evolutionary design of the avian respiratory system. Outlining the mechanisms and principles through which biological complexity and functional novelty have been crafted in a unique gas exchanger, this account will provoke further inquiries on the many still uncertain issues. The specific goal here was to highlight the uniqueness of the design of the avian respiratory system and the factors that obligated it.

The central focus of this book is the avian respiratory system. The authors explain why the respiratory system of modern birds is built the way it is and works the way that it does. Birds have been and continue to attract particular interest to biologists. The more birds are studied, the more it is appreciated that the existence of human-kind on earth very much depends directly and indirectly on the existence of birds. Regarding the avian respiratory system, published works are scattered in biological journals of fields like physiology, behavior, anatomy/morphology and ecology while others appear in as far afield as paleontology and geology. The contributors to this book are world-renowned experts in their various fields of study. Special attention is given to the evolution, the structure, the function and the development of the lung-air sac system. Readers will not only discover the origin of birds but will also learn how the respiratory system of theropod dinosaurs worked and may have transformed into the avian one. In addition, the work explores such aspects as swallowing mechanism in birds, the adaptations that have evolved for flight at extreme altitude and gas exchange in eggs. It is a highly informative and carefully presented work that provides cutting edge scientific insights for readers with an interest in the respiratory biology and the evolution of birds.

A current and cutting-edge reference, Current Therapy in Avian Medicine and Surgery takes the popular Current Therapy approach in providing succinct and clear information pertinent to the medical care of avian species. Most chapters include an up-to-date delivery of the current state of knowledge on their subject material, and provide practical approaches and thought processes applicable to diagnosis and therapy where appropriate. Information is always easy to find, with topics including the latest advances in internal medicine; behavioral medicine; anesthesia, analgesia, and surgery. Sections dedicated to welfare, conservation, and practice risk management explore important, but less commonly discussed aspects of avian practice; and the pattern recognition portion of the text offers readers a view of what companion bird conditions are likely to be seen in practice in different parts of the world. Written by a team of highly regarded contributors from around the world, this text helps readers, regardless of location and current knowledge, develop and augment skills in the medical and surgical care of avian species. The Current Therapy format provides current, up-to-date, succinct and clear information pertinent to the medical and surgical care of avian species. Coverage of clinically significant topics includes current veterinary scientific literature and hot topics relating to today’s avian medicine and surgery. Coverage of a wide variety of bird species includes psittacines, pigeons, raptors, ratites, waterfowl, gallinaceous birds, and less common species. More than 800 full-color images show avian disease, management strategies and thought processes, and aid in formulating guidelines to care. World-renowned, expert contributors provide cutting-edge information, offering authoritative, accurate, and sometimes controversial opinions in many areas of study. Summary tables simplify the lookup of key facts and treatment guidelines. References in each chapter facilitate further reading and research on specific topics.

The book will broadly examine and synthesize aspects of the evolution, development, structure and function of the avian respiratory system and the lung-air sac system. The following questions will be answered: from where did the avian respiratory system originate?; how did it form?; how is it built?; how does it function? and; how does the functional design of the system allow and sustain powered flight and flight at high altitude? The chapters will be contributed by an international group of researchers who are renowned authorities in their areas of specialization.

This book encapsulates over three decades of the author’s work on comparative functional respiratory morphology. It provides insights into the mechanism(s) by which respiratory means and processes originated and advanced to their modern states. Pertinent cross-disciplinary details and facts have been integrated and reexamined in order to arrive at more robust answers to questions regarding the basis of the functional designs of gas exchangers. The utilization of oxygen for energy production is an ancient process, the development and progression of which were underpinned by dynamic events in the biological, physical, and chemical worlds. Many books that have broached the subject of comparative functional respiratory biology have only described the form and function of the ‘end-product,’ the gas exchanger; they have scarcely delved into the factors and the conditions that motivated and steered the development from primeval to modern respiratory means and processes. This book addresses and answers broad questions concerning the critical synthesis of multidisciplinary data, and clarifies previously cryptic aspects of comparative respiratory biology.

Vols. for 1963- include as pt. 2 of the Jan. issue: Medical subject headings.