Evolution of Sleep Phylogenetic and Functional Perspectives

About this book

Research during the past two decades has produced major advances in understanding sleep within particular species. Simultaneously, molecular advances have made it possible to generate phylogenetic trees, while new analytical methods provide the tools to examine macroevolutionary change on these trees. These methods have recently been applied to questions concerning the evolution of distinctive sleep state characteristics and functions.

Evolution of Sleep synthesizes recent advances in our understanding of the evolutionary origins of sleep and its adaptive function, and it lays the groundwork for future evolutionary research by assessing sleep patterns in the major animal lineages.

Contents

1. Introduction / Patrick McNamara, Charles L. Nunn, Robert A.Barton
2. Ecological constraints on mammalian sleep architecture / Isabella Capellini, Brian T. Preston, Patrick McNamara, Robert A. Barton and Charles L. Nunn
3. Sleep in insects / Kristyna M. Hartse
4. Schooling by continuously-active fishes: clues to sleep's ultimate function / J. Lee Kavanau
5. What exactly is it that sleeps?: the evolution, regulation and organization of an emergent network property / James M. Krueger
6. Evolutionary medicine of sleep disorders: toward a science of sleep duration / Patrick McNamara and Sanford Auerbach
7. Primate sleep in phylogenetic perspective / Charles N. Nunn, Patrick McNamara, Isabella Capellini, Brian T. Preston and Robert Barton
8. A bird's eye view on the function of sleep / Niels C. Rattenborg and Charles J. Amlaner
9. The evolution of wakefulness: from reptiles to mammals / Ruben V. Rial, Mourad Akaarir, Antoni Gamundi, M. Cristina Nicolau and Susana Esteban
10. Evolution of REM sleep / Mahesh M. Thakkar and Subimal Datta
11. Towards the understanding of the function of sleep: new insights from mouse genetics / Valter Tucci and Patrick M. Nolan
12. Fishing for sleep / Irina V. Zhdanova

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Biography

Dr. Patrick McNamara is an Associate Professor of Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine and VA Boston Healthcare System. Dr. Robert Barton is a professor at Durham University and Director of the Evolutionary Anthropology Research Group. Dr. Charles Nunn is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University.