Book Project on the Evolution of Sleep: Phylogenetic and Functional Perspectives
About the Volumes
These volumes, to be edited by Dr. Patrick McNamara (Boston University, Boston, MA), Dr. Robert Barton (Durham University, Durham, England), and Dr. Charles Nunn (Max Planck Institute, Leipzig, Germany) will contain approximately 25 chapters from leaders in this field. The editors have received a contract to publish this book through Cambridge University Press.
The two primary goals of this edited volume are to synthesize recent advances in our understanding of the evolutionary origins of sleep and its adaptive function, and to lay the groundwork for future evolutionary research by assessing sleep patterns in the major animal lineages. The last text to summarize such knowledge was published more than two decades ago (Mayes, 1983). 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. The chapters in the book will highlight these advances through chapters on studies of sleep within particular lineages and comparative analyses that provide insights to variation within and among major taxonomic groups.
Please click here to learn about the Author Guidelines for the chapters or here to view the project timeline. The editors are very excited about this project and look forward to the final product!
