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...

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...

At the heart of this book is the avian respiratory system. The authors shed new light on understanding why the respiratory system of modern birds is built the way it is and works the way it does. Birds have been and continue to attract particular interest. The more they have been studied, the more it has been realized that the existence of human-kind very much depends directly and indirectly on birds. Regarding the avian respiratory system, published work is scattered in biological journals of fields like physiology, behavior, anatomy and ecology while others appear in paleontological- and...