Intro to physiology

Question 1

What is Physiology

Answer 1

the study of function, the mechanisms of function

Question 2

what are the levels of physiology

Answer 2

Evolutionary
organismal
cellular
molecular

Question 3

Homeostasis is

Answer 3

• Regulation of an approximately constant internal environment.
• Usually controlled by negative feedback.
  A sensor detects a change in a body variable and the effector (response organ) carries out a response to reverse the change. This response maintains the variable at a set point.
• A process that takes a lot of energy, but it is one way that animals are able to survive and function successfully in their environments.

Question 4

Acute changes

Answer 4

short term reversible changes

Question 5

chronic changes

Answer 5

long term acclimation after being in an environment for a while-still reversible

Question 6

Evolutionary

Answer 6

changes that change gene freq over generations

Question 7

Developmental

Answer 7

internally programmed changes that occur in response to maturing

Question 8

Biological clock changes

Answer 8

everyday changes that occur in physiology following along the internal clock

Question 9

conformity

Answer 9

Conformity

Traits within an animal that vary with its surrounding environment.

Question 10

regulation

Answer 10

• Traits within an animal that are relatively constant, regardless of it’s surrounding environment.
• This costs more energy than conformity because it represents organization. Second Law of Thermodynamics again.

Question 11

Are salmon conformers or regulators?

Answer 11

Salmon are an intermediate, which is common.

they are thermoconformers and chloride regulators.

Question 12

What do we mean when we say animal physiology is affected a lot by time and size?

Answer 12

• Every animal’s physiology changes throughout certain time frames.
• Homeostasis prevents certain parts of animals from changes.
• Physiology changes in 5 time frames that fit into 2 categories.
• Body size is one of an animals most important traits because it effects a lot of things like surface-to-volume ratio, shape, organ size and shape, composition and material properties of some tissues, physiological rates, life history traits, etc.

Question 13

Physiology changes in 5 time frames that fit into 2 categories:

Answer 13

1. Changes from external environment:
   a. acute
   b. chronic
   - acclimation
   - acclimatization
   c. evolutionary
2. Changes from internally programmed systems:
   d. developmental
   e. periodic biological clocks

Question 14

Types of change (3)

Answer 14

1. Regulation
2. Conformity
3. Homeostasis

Question 15

chronic changes

Answer 15

• Changes caused by the external environment.
• These changes restructure the body to be able to handle the new environmental demands.
• Example: biochemical and morphological restructuring. Like activating and building muscle tissue.
• Types of chronic responses include acclimation and acclimatization.
• Chronic responses last longer than acute responses.
• chronic changes restructure the body.

Question 16

Acclimation

Answer 16

• A chronic response to environmental changes.
• Example would be temperature alone (not temperature and other variables).
• The term is sometimes used to refer to natural changes over intermediate time spans (days to weeks), but mostly refers to changes in controlled lab conditions.

Question 17

Acclimatization

Answer 17

• Chronic response to seasonal changes

- Term usually refers to wild animal responses to seasonal changes in their natural environments.

Question 18

Evolutionary changes

Answer 18

• Changes from the external environment that occur in populations of organisms. Involves changes in gene frequencies in a population over time.
• Requires any one, or combination of the following conditions: mutation, selection, non-random mating, immigration, emigration, genetic drift or founder effect (both of these are more likely in small populations).
• Hardy-Wienberg Equilibrium

Question 19

Developmental changes

Answer 19

• Internally programmed changes
• Occur throughout lifespan
• Often large changes in very young and very old individuals
• These changes occur even if the environment is constant
• Examples: Changes in hemoglobin and digestive enzymes from infancy to childhood

Question 20

Changes that are controlled by periodic biological clocks:

Answer 20

• Internally programmed
• Period oftern daily, but can be monthly, yearly, etc.
• Can be synchronized with or reset by external cues. but the cycle will occur even if the external cues are absent (like the people who lived in the cave for the study).
• Examples: daily fluctuation in body temperature, enzyme levels, etc.

Question 21

Environment

Answer 21

• Chemical, physical and biological components of an organism’s surroundings. Organisms in the same environment effect each other.
• Temperature, oxygen and water are the three key features of environments.

Question 22

Thermoconformers

Answer 22

• Most animals (especially small like bacteria, aquatic animals, etc).
• Their body temperature is regulated by and change with the environment.

Question 23

Diversity of terrestrial thermoconformers (like insects) ________ with latitude and cooler temps. Explain.

Answer 23

• It declines.
• This indicates that cold environments are demanding places to live, even despite evolutionary adaptability.
• Example: Swallowtail butterflies

Question 24

Water

Answer 24

• The universal solvent
• Our body is majority water
• Water bound proteins are critical for maintaining proper functions
• All life first evolved in the marine environment
• Water balance and dehydration were not problems for earlier animals.
• Maintaining water balance became a problem when animals came to fresh water and land.
• Multiple physiological systems involved in water and ion balance.