Homeostasis and Feedback Mechanisms Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts related to homeostasis, homeostatic control loops, and positive vs. negative feedback mechanisms.

Homeostasis

The process by which an organism maintains an average or normal internal state, such as keeping body temperature, blood levels, and glucose stable.

Positive Feedback

A feedback loop that amplifies a stimulus or change, driving the system to produce more of a specific condition or response.

Negative Feedback

A primary homeostatic mechanism that counteracts a change to bring a variable back to its normal average set point.

Stimulus

A change in normal homeostatic conditions that initiates a homeostatic control loop, such as a rise in body temperature or a drop in oxygen.

Receptors

Sensory structures or nerve endings (e.g., thermoreceptors in skin and brain, or sensors in lungs) that detect changes in normal body conditions.

Control Center

A body part, usually the brain (such as the hypothalamus) or a gland, that processes information from receptors and sends messages to correct imbalances.

Effector

A body part, typically a muscle or gland, that carries out actions directly causing changes to restore homeostasis (e.g., sweat glands producing sweat).

Response

The action or outcome produced by an effector that restores homeostasis, returning the body system to its set point.

Hypothalamus

A structure in the brain that serves as a control center for body temperature, sending signals to sweat glands when overheating is detected.

Cell Membrane

The cellular structure that regulates what enters and exits the cell, maintaining homeostatic balance at the microscopic level.

Ectotherms and Endotherms

Categories of organisms whose internal body temperatures fluctuate or are regulated differently in response to environmental conditions.

Homeostatic Control Loop

A five-step sequence consisting of stimulus, receptor, control center, effector, and response that acts to restore internal balance.

Oxygen Homeostasis Cycle

A specific homeostatic loop where lack of oxygen (stimulus) is sensed by lungs (receptor), signaling the brain (control center) to increase heart rate (effector), restoring normal blood pressure and oxygenation (response).