Physiology Test 1

chapter 1

What are the three contexts of Physiology

-Fundamental biology of all animals

-human and health disease

-health and disease of pets,farm animals,harvested animals

Define Integrative in Physiology

Bringing together concepts that seem independent of each other

Example of integrative in Physiology

for pheasent to escape fox, multiple levels of organization are needed. On the Cellular level, how fast the muscle contracts determines how fast it can escape. On a biochemical level, the making of ATP in the krebs cycle determines how fast muscle contraction will occur to escape.

Define Mechanism in Physiology

Components of a living animal and how those components interact to prefrom a function

Example of a mechanism in Physiology

Firefly producing light: Luciferin reacts with ATP + enzyme to produce Luciferyl-AMP → Nitric Oxide prevents mitochondria from blocking O2 → O2 reacts with Luciferyl-AMP and light is produced → When nitric oxide is not produced, mitochondria blocks O2 and no light is emitted

What is the Origin of a Mechanism

Origin of a mechanism is explained through natural selection. through adaptation, natural selection favors certain traits/mechanisms that increase the survival/reproduction of the animal. the adaptive significance to a male fireflys trait/mechanism lighting up in a specific pattern is to attract females to mate with.

What is Comformity

Allows internal conditions to change with external conditions

What is regulation

Internal conditions stay constant when external conditions change

Compare Conformity and Regulation

Conformity changes the internal conditions of an animal when the external conditions change and regulation keeps the internal conditions constant when external conditions change. The downside to comformity is when external changes are extreme the internal changes will kill the animal. The downside to regulation is that keeping internal conditions constants cost a lot of energy. These are both extreme cases and animals usually use both.

Homeostasis

The physiological process that maintains regulation ( a constant state)

Acute changes

Changes that occur within minutes to hours, like entering a hot enviorment. The body responds to heat. (reversible)

Chronic changes

Changes within days, weeks, and months, like being in a hot enviorment for a week body can tolerate heat. (reversible)

Evolutionary Change

Alteration of gene frequencies through many generations. Enviroment changes species develop new traits to survive/reproduce.

Developmental change

programmed development. Animal develops from juvenile to adult

Changes Controlled by Clock

internal clock. Internal clock changes for certain animals during mating season

Why is Body Size an Important Trait?

Understanding the normal relationship between body size and a trait helps identify specialization/adaptation in a species. If two animals are the same body size and animal A has the expected brain size but animal B has a much larger brain than expected, scientists will investiagte why brain size is unusally large and if it represents a specialization or adaptation.

How do animals relate to Temperature

Animals live in different thermal environments, there physiology allows them to function under the temperature they experience. Arctic cod body temp sits at -1.6C and produces anti freeze compound

How do animals relate to Oxygen

Animals need O2 for metabolic energy, but O2 availability varies in hypoxic environments, which can create physiological challenges. Bar-headed geese have been seen flying above mounth everest, which is at high altitudes where there is low O2

How do animals relate to Water

Animals need to maintain appropriate water conditions. Moving into freshwater created physiological challenges while living on land creates danger of water loss trhough evaporation and dehydration

Adaptive Evolution

A trait provides an advantage in an individual’s survival and reproduction, and genes for the trait increase in frequency. Fireflies have species-specific light patterns, which help them attract mates, increasing their opportunity for reproduction. Natural selection favors trait.

Non-Adaptive Evolution

Occurs because of chance. random event wipes out most brown mice, leaving gray mice to reproduce. Gray fur becomes more common by chance, even though it provides no survival or reproductive advantage.

How is Adaptation Studied

Scientists identify adapatation by comparing species, studying populations experimentally and in nature, examining genetic variation, and reconstructing the evolutionary history of traits.

What is the Importance of Variation in Evolutionary Potential

Genetic variation gives a population the potential to evolve. If there is no genetic diversity for a trait, evolutionary change for that trait is impossible.