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This document is an assignment submission on the topic of homeostasis and temperature regulation. It discusses how homeostasis maintains a constant internal environment despite external fluctuations, and how thermoregulation allows organisms to maintain body temperatures different from their environments. It then provides details on temperature regulation strategies in various animal kingdoms, such as endothermy in mammals and birds who generate metabolic heat, and ectothermy in reptiles and amphibians who rely on environmental temperatures.

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Abdullah Bhatti
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242 views4 pages

Assignment: Subject

This document is an assignment submission on the topic of homeostasis and temperature regulation. It discusses how homeostasis maintains a constant internal environment despite external fluctuations, and how thermoregulation allows organisms to maintain body temperatures different from their environments. It then provides details on temperature regulation strategies in various animal kingdoms, such as endothermy in mammals and birds who generate metabolic heat, and ectothermy in reptiles and amphibians who rely on environmental temperatures.

Uploaded by

Abdullah Bhatti
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Assignment

Subject:

Zoology

Topic:

Homeostasis & Temperature Regulation

Submitted To:

Sir Saleem

Submitted By:

M. Umair Munir

F19-BS ZOOL-1011

BS Zoology 3rd (M)


HOMEOSTASIS AND TEMPERATURE REGULATION

Homeostasis:
“Homeostasis is the maintenance of a relatively constant internal environment despite
fluctuations in the external environment.”
Temperature Regulation:
“Thermoregulation or temperature regulation is the ability to maintain body
temperatures at a level different from environmental temperatures.”
Explanation:
Temperature can be defined as a measure of the molecular motion .There is usually a
limit beyond which an organism’s biochemical processes and tissues are deeply affected and
even damaged. Enzymes are also dependent on temperature changes, so their activity can be
altered by them as well as the activities of their substrate and the intracellular department
they act on. Interactions between internal (largely hormonal) controls and extrinsic factors
determine the timing of reproductive activities. In temperate regions, temperature seems to be
the most important environmental factor that induces physiological changes associated with
breeding, and breeding periods are seasonal, occurring in spring and summer. In tropical
regions, amphibian breeding correlates with rainy seasons.

An animal expends part of its existence energy in regulating body temperature.


Temperature influences the rates of chemical reactions in animal cells (metabolic rate) and
affects the animal’s overall activity. The body temperature of an animal seldom remains
constant because of an inequality between heat loss and heat gain. Heat energy can be lost to
objects in an animal’s surroundings. On the other hand, heat is gained from solar radiation,
infrared and heat radiation from objects in the environment, and relatively inefficient
metabolic activities that generate heat as a by-product of cellular functions.

Thermoregulatory needs influence many habitat requirements, such as the availability


of food, water, and shelter. When food becomes scarce, or when animals are not feeding for
other reasons, they are subject to starvation. Under these circumstances, metabolic activities
may decrease dramatically. Torpor is a time of decreased metabolism and lowered body
temperature that occurs in bats, hummingbirds, and other animals who must feed almost
constantly when they are active. Torpor also allows these animals to survive periods when
they do not feed and in harsh conditions.
Animal’s Inactivity:
Some animal choose different types of dormancy to survive in different temperatures
and harsh conditions. Some important strategies of them are;
Dormancy:
Dormancy is a phase in the lifecycle of an organism when physical activities (in
animals), development, and growth are stop temporarily and reduced metabolic activity
occurs.
Example:
 Adopted by various organisms under harsh conditions
Hibernation:
Hibernation is a phase of metabolic depression and inactivity in endotherms.
Hibernation is characterized by a low metabolic rate, reduced heartbeat (by up to 95%), slow
breathing, and low body temperature.
Example:
 Polar bear
Diapause:
Diapause is a phase of delayed development that is marked by lower metabolic
activity in response to recurring periods of severe environmental conditions.
Example:
 Diapause is observed in all the life stages of arthropods like insects
Aestivation:
Aestivation is a form of dormancy which is quite similar to hibernation, and it’s
characterized by reduced metabolic rate and inactivity in response to environmental
conditions and high temperatures.
Example:
 Worms, Garden snails & Crocodiles
Brumation:
Brumation is a state of dormancy in a reptile that resembles hibernation. Reptiles
undergo brumation during the late stages of autumn, and they can wake up only to drink
water and then go back to sleep.
Example:
 Reptiles consume a lot of food right before brumation for their survival.
Animal’s Strategies & Their Evolved Specifications:
Physiologically, organisms can be affected both by low and high temperatures. For
both higher and lower temperature animals are evolved and they contain special methods or
organs to handle out life-threatening circumstances.
Endotherms, such as birds and mammals, use metabolic heat to maintain a
stable internal temperature, often one different from the environment.
Ectotherms, like lizards and snakes, do not use metabolic heat to maintain
their body temperature but take on the temperature of the environment.
Cold-blooded animals do not maintain a constant body temperature. They get
their heat from the outside environment, so their body temperature fluctuates,
based on external temperatures. If it is 50 °F outside, their body temperature
will eventually drop to 50 °F, as well.
Warm-blooded animals require a lot of energy to maintain a constant
body temperature. This means that larger warm-blooded animals can generate
more heat than they lose heat.
In evolution the environment changed and same with the structure and behaviour of
animals to live in respective environment. All of Kingdom Animalia are unique in the
methodology and strategies they use to regulate temperature. Some important adaptations are:
 Mammals:
Many mammals can activate mechanisms like sweating and panting to
increase evaporative cooling in response to high body temperature.
 Amphibians:
Amphibians can control their temperature with their bodies, for
example by changing their colour to affect how much solar radiation they
receive, or absorbing or evaporating water through their skin.
 Molluscs:
They regulate their body temperature to adjust to new temperatures
through physiological changes at the cellular level.
 Birds:
Feathers return heat to the body by a counter current mechanism.
Feathers can trap a layer of insulating air next to the skin.
 Fish:
Most fish are poikilothermic, means temperature changes with ambient
temperature. Fish control this by moving from colder to warmer.
 Reptiles:
Reptiles regulate their body temperature through basking in a warm
area to heat up and moving to a cool. Reptiles hibernate in winter.

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