Lecture 7 - Animal Form and Function

Q: What limits the range of animal forms?
A: Physical laws governing strength, diffusion, movement, and heat exchange.

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Q: How do properties of water affect fast-swimming animals?
A: They limit possible shapes for fast-swimming animals.

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Q: What is convergent evolution?
A: The process where diverse organisms evolve similar adaptations to face the same challenge.

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Q: What must be exchanged across the plasma membranes of animal cells?
A: Nutrients, waste products, and gases.

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Q: Why is a suitable aqueous environment essential for multicellular organisms?
A: Every cell must have access to it for the organization to function.

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Q: What is the body plan of multicellular organisms with a saclike structure?
A: Body walls that are only two cells thick, facilitating diffusion.

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Q: How do flat animals like tapeworms exchange materials?
A: Most cells are in direct contact with the environment.

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Q: What enables sufficient exchange with the environment in complex organisms?
A: Evolutionary adaptations like specialized, branched, or folded structures.

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Q: What are tissues?
A: Groups of cells with a similar appearance and common function.

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Q: What are organs made of?
A: Tissues, which together form organ systems.

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Q: What is epithelial tissue, and what are its cell shapes?
A: Tissue that covers the outside of the body and lines organs; cell shapes include cuboidal, columnar, and squamous.

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Q: What is the function of connective tissue?
A: It holds tissues and organs together and in place.

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Q: What are the three types of connective tissue fibers?
A: Collagenous (strength and flexibility), reticular (joins tissues), and elastic (stretch and snap back).

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Q: What are the six major types of connective tissue in vertebrates?
A: Loose connective tissue, fibrous connective tissue, bone, adipose tissue, blood, and cartilage.

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Q: What is muscle tissue responsible for?
A: Nearly all types of body movement.

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Q: What are the three types of muscle tissue in vertebrates?
A: Skeletal (voluntary), smooth (involuntary), and cardiac (heart contraction).

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Q: What is the function of nervous tissue?
A: Receipt, processing, and transmission of information.

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Q: What are the two major systems for coordinating responses to stimuli?
A: The endocrine system and the nervous system.

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Q: What is the difference between a regulator and a conformer?
A: A regulator uses internal control mechanisms, while a conformer allows internal conditions to vary with external changes.

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Q: What is negative feedback?
A: A control mechanism that reduces or "damps" a stimulus, maintaining homeostasis.

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Q: What is positive feedback?
A: A mechanism that amplifies a stimulus, driving processes like childbirth to completion.

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Q: What is acclimatization?
A: A change in an animal’s physiology as it adjusts to external environmental changes.

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Q: What is the difference between endothermic and ectothermic animals?
A: Endotherms generate heat by metabolism (e.g., birds, mammals); ectotherms gain heat from external sources (e.g., fish, amphibians).

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Q: What are the four physical processes of heat exchange?
A: Radiation, evaporation, convection, and conduction.

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Q: What are five adaptations for thermoregulation?
A: Insulation, circulatory adaptations, evaporative cooling, behavioral responses, and adjusting metabolic heat production.

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Q: What is countercurrent exchange?
A: A system where heat is transferred between fluids flowing in opposite directions, reducing heat loss.

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Q: How do animals use evaporation for cooling?
A: Through sweating, bathing, or panting.

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Q: What is torpor?
A: A physiological state of decreased activity and metabolism to save energy.

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Q: What is the relationship between metabolic rate and body size?
A: Smaller animals have higher metabolic rates per gram than larger animals.

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Q: What is the role of the hypothalamus in thermoregulation?
A: It acts as the body’s thermostat, triggering heat loss or heat-generating mechanisms.