Plant Physiology

Animal Physiology Friday January 13, 2012
What are Animals?
Invertebrates
No spinal column
Vertebrates
Spinal column

Major Animal Phyla
Porifera
Cnidaria
Platyhel-minths
Mollusca
Annileda
Nematoda
Arthro-poda
Echino-dermata
Chordata

What is Animal Physiology?
What is Physiology?
“The study of how animals work” (function)
Knut Schmidt-Nielsen (1915–2007) – came up with the whole scheme of animal physiology from cell to whole organism temperature, water, air, energy
Diversity of animals…more than 1 million species on earth
Unifying themes that apply to all physiological processes

Physiological Processes Chemical & Physical Laws
Rooted in the laws of physics & chemistry
Nerve conduction, action potentials & ionic currents
Gas exchange
Animal locomotion and blood flow
Muscle contraction and limb movement
Anabolic and catabolic metabolism

What is Animal Physiology? (continued)
Animal Physiology includes behavior, ecology, anatomy, evolution,…..
Sub-disciplines of animal physiology
Cellular
Comparative
Environmental
Evolutionary
Developmental

Physiological Sub-disciplines
Based on:
Biological level of organization
Process that causes physiological variation
Ultimate goals of the research
Many physiological questions encompass elements from each sub-discipline

Physiological Sub-disciplines
Cell and molecular physiology
Genetics, metabolism, organelles
Systems physiology
Function of organs
Organismal physiology
Whole animal
Ecological physiology
Animal and its environment
Integrative physiology
Multiple levels of organization

What is AP? (cont’d)
Much of what we know is from animals in extreme conditions. Eg. deserts & artic.
It introduces another source of bias.
Historical Points
Socrates (470-399 B.C.), Aristotle (384- 322 B.C.) Galileo (1564-1642) documented heart rate in developing chick embyro
Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694)