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University of California Press

Return to the Sea

The Life and Evolutionary Times of Marine Mammals
by Annalisa Berta (Author), James L. Sumich (Illustrator), Carl Buell (Illustrator)
Hardcover Paperback eBook
Price: $24.95 / £21.00
Publication Date: Apr 2012
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 224
ISBN: 9780520951440
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About the Book

Return to the Sea portrays the life and evolutionary times of marine mammals—from giant whales and sea cows that originated 55 million years ago to the deep-diving elephant seals and clam-eating walruses of modern times. This fascinating account of the origin of various marine-mammal lineages—some extinct, others extant but threatened—is for the nonspecialist. Against a backdrop of geologic time and changing climates and geography, this volume takes evolution as its unifying principle to help us to understand today’s diversity of marine mammals and their responses to environmental challenges. Annalisa Berta explains current controversies and explores patterns of change now taking place, such as shifting food webs and predator-prey relationships, habitat degradation, global warming, and the effects of humans on marine-mammal communities.

About the Author

Annalisa Berta is Professor in the Department of Biology at San Diego State University. She has served as the President of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, and Associate Editor of the scientific journal Marine Mammal Science.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments

1. Marine Mammals
Major Groups of Marine Mammals
Discovering, Naming, and Classifying Marine Mammals
Reconstructing the Hierarchy of Marine Mammals
Adaptations and Exaptations
What Is a Species and How Do New Species Form?
Where Do They Live and Why Are They Where They Are?

2. Past Diversity in Time and Space,Paleoclimates, and Paleoecology
Fossils and Taphonomy
The Discovery of the First Fossil Marine Mammal (a Whale)
The Importance of Fossils
How Do We Know the Age of a Fossil?
How Do We Know Where Marine Mammals Were?
Marine Mammal Diversity and Communities Through Time
What Led Marine Mammals Back to the Sea?

3. Pinniped Diversity, Evolution, and Adaptations
The Earliest Pinnipeds: Webbed Feet or Flippers?
Crown Pinnipeds
Desmatophocids: Extinct Phocid Relatives
Evolutionary Trends
Structural and Functional Innovations and Adaptations
Mating and Social Systems, Reproduction, and Life History

4. Cetartiodactylan Diversity, Evolution, and Adaptations
Early Whales Had Legs!
Crown Cetacea (Neoceti)
Evolutionary Trends
Structural and Functional Innovations and Adaptations
Mating and Social Systems, Reproduction, and Life History

5. Diversity, Evolution, and Adaptations of Sirenians
and Other Marine Mammals
Walking Sea Cows!
Crown Sirenia
Evolutionary Trends
Structural and Functional Innovations and Adaptations
Mating and Social Systems, Reproduction and Life History
Desmostylians
Aquatic Sloths
Marine Otters
Polar Bears

6. Ecology and Conservation
What Marine Mammals Eat and What Eats Them
Interactions Between Human and Marine Mammals:
Lessons Learned
Extinction: The Rule, Not the Exception

Glossary
Further Reading and Online Sources
Illustration Credits
Index

Reviews

“Wide-ranging and fact-packed. . . .Berta writes in an engaging, jargon-free style, which makes the book readily accessible to students and teachers at both the graduate and the undergraduate levels. . . . As useful as it is stimulating.”
— Bioscience
“Berta did a superb job in bridging the gap between scientific knowledge and the general public. . . . Rarely does one have the opportunity to read a book that is written in an enjoyable and accessible way, scientifically accurate, and based in a wide and updated range of literature. Return to the Sea is certainly one of those books.”
— Marine Mammal Science
"The writing is simple and informative, the line drawings and other illustrations are excellent, and we have here a primer of what it is to be a marine animal..."
— The Quarterly Review of Biology
“A good introduction to marine mammal evolution.”
— The Guardian
"Over the past 55 million years, mammals have returned to the sea many times and in many places. Annalisa Berta leads readers through this parade of transitions, highlighting how marine mammals have met the evolutionary challenge of living an aquatic life in a variety of ways. Return to the Sea weaves ecology, anatomy, and evolution into an ideal entry point for anyone interested in knowing more about one of the most fascinating phenomena in macroevolution."--Nicholas D. Pyenson, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

"Berta is to be congratulated. She drew on her vast knowledge of marine mammals and their evolution to write an excellent, readable introduction to the group, including the latest discoveries."--J.G.M. Thewissen, Northeast Ohio Medical University

"This wide-ranging and up-to-date survey of marine mammal biology and evolution is a fine introduction to the subject for undergraduates and anyone interested in mammals of the sea."--Daryl P. Domning, Howard University