Ecology Presentation 2

7
CHAPTER
Animal Adaptations
to the Environment
© 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd.
Elements of ECOLOGY Lecture Presentation by

NINTH EDITION, GLOBAL EDITION
Carla Ann Hass
Penn State University
Thomas M. Smith • Robert Leo Smith
Chapter 7 Animal Adaptations to the
Environment
§ Animals acquire energy from many different types of
food
§ How does this make them different from plants?
§ How does this lead to more complex adaptations
among animals?
§ What processes are common to all animals?

Chapter 7 Animal Adaptations to the
Environment
§ Most plants acquire energy from light through the
process of photosynthesis
§ Animals feed on many different types of organisms;
this leads to a diversity of adaptations among
animals
§ Key processes that animals share include:
§ acquiring and digesting food
§ absorbing oxygen
§ maintaining body temperature and water balance
§ adapting to daily and seasonal environmental
changes
Section 7.1 Size Imposes a Fundamental
Constraint on the Evolution of Organisms
§ What is the size range of living animals?
§ How are the surface area and volume of organisms
related to each other?
§ What type of constraint does this impose on the
evolution of animals?

§ The smallest animals weigh about 2 to 10
micrograms.
§ The largest living animals are the
§ aquatic – Blue Whale – 100,000 kg
§ terrestrial – African Elephant – 5000 kg

Figure 7.1

§ Size impacts structure/function relationships in
animals
§ Most morphological and physiological features
change as a function of body size in a predictable
way
§ Scaling
§ geometrically similar objects are isometric
§ surface areas (SA) and volumes (V) of isometric
objects are related to their linear dimensions

§ How are surface area and volume related?
§ Think of the linear dimensions of a square and a
cube

§ How are surface area and volume related?
§ For a square
§ surface area = length ´ length (l) = l2
§ a square does not have volume
§ For a cube
§ surface area = 6 ´ l2
§ volume = l ´ l ´ l = l3
§ Therefore, volume increases more rapidly than
surface area as the size of a cube increases

§ Smaller organisms have a larger surface area
relative to volume than do larger organisms of the
same shape

Figure 7.2
1200
7
1000 6
800 5
4
600 SA
SA:V
V 3
400
2
200
1
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Length (l) Length (l)
(a) (b)

§ Why does this relationship between surface area
and volume impose a critical constraint on the
evolution of animals?

§ Many basic physiological and biochemical
processes require the transfer of materials and
energy between the exterior (environment) and
interior of the organism. What are some examples of
these processes?

§ Gas exchange – animals require a supply of O2 for
cellular respiration and release CO2 as a waste
product
§ Oxygen readily diffuses into cells and can diffuse
into a millimeter of tissue in seconds
§ if an organism is very thin, oxygen can diffuse into all
of the cells
§ What about an organism that is about the size of a
golf ball (a radius of 21 mm)? How long would it take
oxygen to diffuse into the center?

§ What about an organism that is about the size of a
golf ball (a radius of 21 mm)? How long would it take
oxygen to diffuse into the center?
§ More than an hour.
§ cells near the surface would receive enough oxygen,
but those deeper in the organism would not.

§ What type of adaptations do you see in animals as a
response to this evolutionary constraint?

§ A convoluted surface increases the surface area of
the organism

Figure 7.3
(a) (b)
(c)
§ Active transport of oxygen into the interior of the
body
§ a tubular body with a central chamber
§ water drawn into the inner chamber allows oxygen to
diffuse to interior cells

Figure 7.4
Movement of
water
(a)
(b)

§ Active transport of oxygen into the interior of the
body
§ organs and organ systems that bring oxygen into the
body and transport it around the body
§ lungs and a circulatory system in vertebrates
§ hemoglobin transports oxygen picked up at the lungs
through blood vessels

§ Acquisition of energy and nutrients and the release
of waste products from digestion
§ Digestive system: a tube in which digestion occurs
§ food is broken down
§ nutrients are absorbed and distributed to the body
§ waste products exit
§ some animals – single opening
§ most animals – two openings
§ mouth – food enters
§ anus – waste exits

§ Digestive tracts vary greatly among animals
§ The greater the surface area, the greater its ability to
absorb food
§ Surface area increases as a square of the length, so
the larger the animal (increases as a cube) the
greater the surface area of its food canal must be to
maintain a constant surface to volume ratio
§ This is also influenced by the type of food eaten

Section 7.2 Animals Have Various Ways of
Acquiring Energy and Nutrients
§ What types of foods do animals eat?
§ What type of physiological, morphological, and
behavioral adaptations allow animals to eat and
digest these foods?
§ What are the four major categories of animal diets?

§ Herbivores – feed only on plant tissues
§ What are the challenges faced by animals that feed
only on plant tissues?

§ Plant tissues have a different chemical composition
than animal tissues
§ Plants are:
§ Low in proteins
§ High in carbohydrates
§ structural carbohydrates – lignin and cellulose – are
difficult to break down
§ Have high levels of nitrogen

§ Herbivores are categorized by the type of plant
tissues they eat
§ grazers – eat mainly leaves, especially grasses
§ browsers – eat woody material
§ granivores – eat seeds
§ frugivores – eat fruit
§ some herbivores are specialized
§ plant sap – birds, insects (aphids)
§ nectivores – hummingbirds, butterflies, bees
§ Which of these have a diet high in cellulose?

§ Grazers and browsers usually have diets very high
in cellulose
§ long chains of glucose molecules
§ Rich in carbon, low in protein
§ Most animals do not produce enzymes that can
digest cellulose
§ Have mutualistic bacteria and protists living in their
digestive tract. These symbionts
§ digest cellulose and proteins
§ synthesize fatty acids, amino acids, proteins, and
vitamins
§ Highest-quality plant food for herbivores is high
nitrogen as protein
§ As nitrogen content increases, assimilation of plant
material improves
§ leads to increasing growth, reproductive success,
survival
§ Nitrogen is concentrated in the growing tips, new
leaves, and buds
§ Nitrogen content declines as plant tissue ages

§ Herbivores:
§ are often most abundant during or reproduce early
in the plant growing season
§ show a preference for more nitrogen-rich plants
§ beavers show a preference for two high-nitrogen
species
§ chemical receptors in the nose and mouth of deer
encourage/discourage consumption of certain foods
§ during drought, nitrogen-based compounds are
concentrated in certain plants, making them more
attractive to herbivores

§ Carnivores eat other animals
§ Do not have problems with food quality or digesting
cellulose
§ Do not have problems digesting and assimilating
nutrients from prey because the chemical
composition of the tissues is similar
§ Quantity is important – they must be able to find
enough food
§ Many eat herbivores

§ Omnivores eat both plants and animals
§ Diet may be highly variable
§ Can vary with the seasons, stages in the life cycle,
size, and growth rate
§ red foxes eat berries and grasses, some insects and
small rodents
§ black bears eat mainly vegetation, including buds,
nuts, tree bark, and supplement with insects, fish, and
small to medium mammals
§ frogs usually eat algae as tadpoles and insects as
adults

Section 7.3 In Responding to Variations in the External
Environment, Animals Can Be either Conformers or
Regulators
§ Environmental variation occurs across a wide range
of timescales
§ Some changes are regular, others are less
predictable
§ An animal can respond to environmental changes in
two different ways – conform or regulate

Regulators
§ Conformers – changes in the external environment
cause parallel changes in the body
§ unable to maintain consistent internal conditions that
are different than the external environment
§ solute concentration, oxygen concentration
§ Starfish (an echinoderm) living in marine
environments is a conformer
§ A conformer’s ability to survive environmental
changes depends on its range of tolerance to
internal changes

Regulators
§ Regulators – changes in the external environment
do not cause internal changes
§ able to maintain consistent internal conditions that are
different than the external environment over a broad
range of environmental conditions
§ Regulation may be
§ biochemical
§ physiological
§ morphological
§ behavioral

Figure 7.6
Conformer Regulator
Internal environment
Line of conformity
External environment

Regulators
§ These regulatory mechanisms may be energetically
expensive
§ The two strategies have different costs and benefits
§ What are some of the costs and benefits for each?

Regulators
§ Conformity
§ benefits – low energetic expenditure, mechanisms to
maintain a consistent internal environment not
needed
§ costs – if environmental conditions are not optimal,
can lead to reduced activity, growth, reproduction
§ Regulation
§ benefits – greatly extended range of environmental
conditions for activity, growth, reproduction and
increased level of performance
§ costs – usually energetically expensive

Regulators
§ A species may use different strategies under
different environmental conditions
§ may regulate with respect to one feature but conform
to another
§ active girdled lizards regulate body temperature while
inactive lizards do not

Figure 7.7
40
Inactive
Active
36
Body temperature (°C)
32
28
24
20
16
16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34
Air temperature (°C)

Section 7.4 Regulation of Internal Conditions
Involves Homeostasis and Feedback
§ Organisms that are regulators need mechanisms to
regulate internal conditions relative to the external
environment
§ What is homeostasis?
§ How is it maintained?

§ Homeostasis – the maintenance of a relatively
constant internal environment in a varying external
environment
§ This depends on negative feedback
§ whenever conditions deviate from the normal state,
the set point, mechanisms engage to restore the
system to that state
§ a thermostat that controls the temperature in a
building is an example of a negative feedback system

§ A feedback system consists of
§ a parameter or variable being regulated
§ the receptor measure the internal environment for the
variable and transfers that information to the
integrator
§ the integrator evaluates the information, comparing it
to the set point, and determines if action must be
taken by the effector
§ the effector modifies the internal environment by
changing the variable being regulated

Figure 7.8a
Feedback loop
The focus
Variable
of regulation
Functions to modify the

internal environment
(variable that is the Effector Receptor
focus of regulation)
Measures the internal

environment for the
variable and transfers
Integrator the information to the
Evaluates the information integrator
from the receptor and
determines actions that
need to be taken by the
effector
(a)

§ Human body temperature regulation is an example
of a negative feedback system
§ the set point for human body temperature (the
variable) is 37°C
§ If environmental temperature increases, receptors in
the skin detect this and send a message to the brain
(the integrator), which relays messages to receptors
(effectors) that increase blood flow to the skin, induce
sweating and behavioral responses that cool the body

§ If environmental temperature decreases, another
reaction takes place, reducing blood flow and causing
shivering (muscle contractions that produce heat)
§ If environmental temperatures are too extreme, this
system breaks down and heatstroke or hypothermia
may result

Figure 7.8c
Temperature regulation in the human body
Body
Temperature
Muscles Nerve
Receptors
Brain
(c)

Section 7.5 Animals Require Oxygen to
Release Energy Contained in Food
§ What process in animal cells requires oxygen?
§ How is the process of acquiring oxygen different for
terrestrial and aquatic animals?

§ Recall:
§ Animals, like plants, use aerobic respiration to
covert the energy in organic compounds into energy
that cells can use
§ Most organisms are oxygen regulators
§ are able to maintain normal oxygen consumption
levels even when external oxygen levels drop below
normal

§ Atmospheric oxygen is readily available in terrestrial
environments
§ Minute organisms acquire oxygen by diffusion
§ Larger organisms cannot use direct diffusion across
the body surface
§ insects have spiracles (openings) on the body wall
that lead to tracheal tubes that carry oxygen into the
body
§ terrestrial vertebrates have lungs that allow oxygen to
diffuse into the bloodstream that carries it to the cells
§ some amphibians also use moist vascular skin

Figure 7.9a
Air sacs
Tracheae
(a) Insect Spiracle

Figure 7.9b
Heart
Lungs
(b) Mammal

§ In aquatic environments, oxygen
§ may be limiting
§ may be problematic to acquire
§ maybe taken from the water or from the atmosphere
§ Some animals are oxygen conformers
§ mainly sedentary marine invertebrates such as
cnidarians and echinoderms
§ Minute animals, often part of the zooplankton, take
up oxygen by diffusion

§ Most larger aquatic animals have gills
§ vascular outfoldings of the body surface that are in
direct contact with the water and exchange gases
§ some gills are simple and distributed over the body
§ some gills are complex and restricted to a specific
region
§ Some aquatic animals must surface for oxygen
§ aquatic insects have a tracheal system and surface to
fill it with air
§ aquatic turtles and mammals have lungs

Figure 7.9c
Gills
(c) Scallop

Figure 7.9d
Mouth
open
Gill arches Operculum

cavity
Heart Operculum
closed
Mouth
closed
Gill bar
Gill
filaments
Operculum
open
(d) Fish
Section 7.6 Animals Maintain a Balance
between the Uptake and Loss of Water
§ Water balance is the balance between the uptake
and loss of water with the surrounding environment
§ How do terrestrial animals gain and lose water?
§ How do aquatic animals gain and lose water?

§ Terrestrial animals gain water
§ directly through drinking and eating
§ indirectly through cellular respiration and the
production of metabolic water
§ Terrestrial animal lose water through
§ urine and feces
§ water is reabsorbed across the cloaca in sauropsids
§ mammalian kidneys can reduce water loss
§ evaporation from the skin
§ exhaling moist air

§ Some animals migrate, leaving areas during the dry
season

Figure 7.10
(a)
N Masai
Aug Mara
Sept
Kenya
Oct
Tanzania
Jul Nov
Lake
Serengeti National Park Natron
Jun
Dec
May
Jan
Apr
Ngorongoro
Maswa Feb Conservation
Game Area
Preserve
Mar
Lake
Lake Eyasi Manyara
(b)
§ Some animals in arid regions enter estivation
§ avoid effects of drought through a period of dormancy
(physiological inactivity)
§ Spadefoot toads in the desert southwest

Figure 7.11

§ Many insects undergo diapause
§ enter a stage of arrested development in their life
cycle
§ emerge when conditions improve
§ Other animals are active during the dry season but
reduce respiratory water loss
§ some rodents lower the temperature of the air they
exhale
§ nasal membranes are cooled causing moist air from the
lungs to condense

§ Desert mammals show many adaptations to dry
conditions
§ small desert mammals are active only at night,
remaining in a burrow during the day
§ some desert animals extract water from the food they
eat, either directly or indirectly as metabolic water
§ some have very concentrated urine and dry feces
§ some tolerate a level of dehydration
§ desert rabbits may lose water up to 50 percent of body
weight

§ Aquatic animals are constantly exchanging water
with the external environment through osmosis
§ Recall passive water transport in plants
§ osmotic pressure moves water across membranes
§ moves from the side of greater concentration to the
side of lower concentration

§ Freshwater animals are hyperosmotic
§ They have a higher salt concentration in their bodies
than the surrounding water.
§ Which way does the water flow between these
organisms and the environment?

§ The water flows into their bodies from the
environment.
§ Why aren’t freshwater animals osmoconformers?

§ The water flows into their bodies from the
environment.
§ Why aren’t freshwater animals osmoconformers?
§ The difference between the osmotic concentrations
of freshwater and body tissues is too great.

§ Freshwater bony fish are osmoregulators.
§ They drink very little water
§ Produce large amounts of dilute urine
§ They take up sodium and chloride ions by pumping
them across their gills; active transport is
energetically expensive

Figure 7.12a
Hyperosmotic
Absorbs water
Actively takes up through skin
ions through gills
Drinks
little
water
Excretes dilute urine
Movement of water
Movement of ions
(a) Osmoregulation in a freshwater environment

§ Marine animals are hypoosmotic
§ They have a lower salt concentration in their bodies
§ Which way does the water flow between these
organisms and the environment?

§ Marine animals are hypoosmotic
§ They have a lower salt concentration in their bodies
§ The water flows out of their bodies into the
environment.
§ How do they prevent water loss and the
accumulation of salts in their body?

§ Marine animals have different approaches to water
balance
§ Some marine animals are isosmotic
(osmoconformers) – body fluids have the same
osmotic pressure as the seawater
§ tunicates, jellyfish, many mollusks, sea anemones

§ Many marine organisms are osmoregulators
§ marine bony fish
§ they drink water and absorb it into their gut
§ produce small amounts of concentrated urine
§ they excrete sodium and chloride ions by pumping
them across their gills; active transport is energetically
expensive

Figure 7.12b
Movement of water
Movement of ions
Hypoosmotic
Loses water
through skin
Drinks
ample
water
Direction
Direction of ion of water
Excretes ions movement movement
through gills (Na+, K+, Cl-)
Excretes concentrated urine
(b) Osmoregulation in a saltwater environment

§ Many marine organisms are osmoregulators
§ cartilaginous fish (sharks and rays)
§ retain urea in their body tissues so they are at a slightly
higher concentration than the seawater
§ birds and sea turtles
§ drink seawater and excrete the salt through salt glands
§ marine mammals
§ eliminate salt through their kidneys

Section 7.7 Animals Exchange Energy with
Their Surrounding Environment
§ Most animals are mobile, which allows them to seek
or escape heat and cold
§ Many animals can produce significant quantities of
heat through metabolism
§ How does the body structure of an animal influence
the exchange of heat with the environment?

§ Consider a simple thermal model of an animal’s
body:
§ the body core temperature (Tb) must be regulated
within a defined range
§ the temperature of the environment surrounding the
body (Ta) varies
§ the temperature at the body surface (Ts) is different
from both the core and the environment
§ boundary layer – thin layer of air or water at the body’s
surface, within hair, feathers or scales

§ Consider a simple thermal model of an animal’s
temperature: gradually changes from the core to the
body surface
§ The body core is separated from the surface by
layers of muscle and fat – insulation (L) that affects
the animal’s thermal conductivity

Figure 7.13
Muscle and fat
Body core
Tb
L
1
2
Environment
Ta
Body
surface
Ts
§ To maintain its core temperature, an animal
balances gains and losses of heat to the external
environment through
§ changes in metabolic rate
§ heat exchange
§ core exchanges heat with the surface through
conduction
§ influenced by thickness of L and blood flow
§ surface exchanges heat with the environment through
§ conduction, convection, radiation, evaporation

§ Terrestrial animals have much larger changes to
their thermal environment than aquatic animals
§ Air has a lower specific heat and absorbs less solar
radiation
§ incoming solar radiation (day) can rapidly increase
heat
§ loss of radiant heat (night) can rapidly decrease heat
§ Aquatic animals generally have a lower tolerance for
temperature changes

Section 7.8 Animal Body Temperature Reflects
Different Modes of Thermoregulation
§ What is the difference between a poikilotherm and a
homeotherm?
§ How do animals regulate their body temperature?

§ Poikilotherms – animals that have a variable body
temperature
§ Homeotherms – animals that have a constant, or
nearly constant, body temperature
§ These terms are not synonymous with conformers
and regulators
§ Only true thermoconformers are animals that live in
environments with almost no variation in
temperature such as the deep ocean

§ Environmental temperatures vary spatially and
temporally
§ Animals regulate body temperature through
§ behavior
§ physiology
§ morphology
§ Animals must sense and respond to their thermal
environment

§ Thermoregulation implies maintaining the average
body temperature or variations in body temperature
within a certain range
§ What are the two categories of thermal regulation in
animals?

§ Ectothermy – process of maintaining body
temperature through exchange of thermal energy
with the surrounding environment
§ animals that do this are ectotherms
§ Endothermy – process of maintaining body
temperature through internally generated metabolic
heat
§ animals that do this are endotherms
§ How do ecotherm and endotherm relate to
poikilotherm and homeotherm?

§ The term homeotherm is usually applied only to
animals that can maintain a constant body
temperature through metabolic processes,
endotherms
§ Endothermic homeotherms – bird and mammals
§ these animals have a high metabolic rate
§ All other animals are typically considered to be
poikilotherms
§ How do poikilotherms regulate body temperature?

Section 7.9 Poikilotherms Regulate Body Temperature
Primarily through Behavioral Mechanisms
§ Performance varies as a function of body

temperature in poikilotherms
§ What are measures of performance in animals?

§ Performance measures that vary as a function of

body temperature in poikilotherms include
§ locomotion
§ growth
§ development
§ fecundity
§ survivorship

§ Each species has Tmin and Tmax at which

performance approaches zero and temperature(s) at
which performance is optimal (Topt)

Figure 7.14
1
Lower critical Upper critical
temperature temperature
Relative performance
(Tmin) (Tmax)
“Optimal”
temperature
.5 (Topt)
Tolerance range
0
Body temperature
1200
1000
Sprint speed (mm per sec)
800
600
400
18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
§ This varies among species

§ Correlated to environmental temperature are
characteristics of the habitat of a species
§ In 20 species of Porcelain crabs that live in subtidal
and intertidal habitats
§ Tmax was positively correlated with surface water
temperature and the maximum temperature in which
the species was found

Figure 7.15
42
California
40 Chile
N. Gulf of California
Panama
38
36
LT50 (°C)
34
32
30
28
26
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Maximal habitat temperature (°C)
§ Characteristics of poikilotherms include

§ low metabolic rate
§ high thermal conductivity
§ What does this mean about the insulating properties of
L (fat and muscle) in the body?


§ The L layer is relatively small; have less fat (insulation)
than homeotherms


§ aerobic respiration during normal activity
§ under increased activity and stress, most energy is
produced anaerobically
§ depletes stored energy
§ lactic acid accumulates in muscles
§ What does this mean for sustained activity?

§ Poikilotherms are limited to short bursts of physical

activity
§ Can rapidly become physically exhausted
§ What type of thermoregulation do most
poikilotherms rely on?

§ Poikilotherms use mainly behavioral

thermoregulation
§ Seeking out appropriate microclimates
§ environmental temperatures allow near optimal body
temperatures
§ bask in the sun to warm
§ rest in the shade to cool
§ Change conduction between the animal and
rocks/soil by
§ raising and lowering the body
§ changing the body shape
§ Blouin-Demers and Weatherhead studied

behavioral thermoregulation in black rat snakes
§ Individual snakes implanted with sensors to monitor
movement and body temperature
§ Operative environmental temperature – body
temperature when a snake occupies a particular
environment
§ Estimated range of body temperatures in each
habitat using physical models that matched snake
reflectance and conductance

§ Snakes were able to maintain their preferred body

temperature regardless of variation in operative
environmental temperatures (Tomax and Tomin)

Figure 7.16
50
40
Temperature (°C)
30
20
10
0 500 1000 1500 2000
Time of day
§ How did the snakes do this?

§ Behavior – moving from one microhabitat to another

during the course of day

Figure 7.17
30°C 14°C
17°C
18°C
16°C

§ What about longer term environmental changes,

such as seasonal changes?
§ Poikilotherms can undergo temperature acclimation
§ allows a shift in the relationship between body
temperature and performance
§ usually involves biochemical changes, such as shifts
in enzyme systems

Based on the results of experiments measuring
swimming performance in crocodiles acclimated to two
different temperature treatments (high and low), these
animals showed
A. similar performance at both high and low

temperatures.
B. much higher performance at higher temperatures.
C. much lower performance at lower temperatures.
D. similar loss of performance at nonoptimal
temperatures.
E. Both A and E are correct.

Figure 7.18
1.2
1.1
Sustained swimming speed
1.0
(body lengths/s)
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32
Temperature (°C)

Based on the results of experiments measuring
swimming performance in crocodiles acclimated to two
different temperature treatments (high and low), these
animals showed
A. similar performance at both high and low

temperatures.
B. much higher performance at higher temperatures.
C. much lower performance at lower temperatures.
D. similar loss of performance at nonoptimal
temperatures.
E. Both A and E are correct.

§ What is the difference between the thermal

conductivity of water versus that of air?

§ What is the difference between the thermal

conductivity of water versus that of air?
§ Thermal conductivity of water is about 25 times
greater than that of air
§ Animals in aquatic environments reach a
temperature equilibrium with the water much faster
than terrestrial organisms do with air
§ It is much more difficult for aquatic organisms to
have a body temperature much different than the
water temperature

§ Aquatic poikilotherms are poorly insulated

§ Heat produced in the muscles moves to the blood,
then the gills and skin, then is transferred into the
water by convection
§ some sharks and tunas use a counter-current
exchange system to retain some body heat
§ Seasonal water temperatures are relatively stable
§ acclimate to changes from one season to the next
§ slowly changing Tmax and Tmin as water temperature
slowly changes; fish are sensitive to rapid changes

Section 7.10 Homeotherms Regulate Body
Temperature through Metabolic Processes
§ How do birds and mammals maintain a constant
body temperature in a variable thermal
environment?
§ What is the thermoneutral zone and why is it
important to homeotherms?

§ Birds and mammals produce heat through aerobic
cellular respiration
§ this process is not 100 percent efficient
§ energy is lost as heat
§ Basal metabolic rate is measured by the rate of
oxygen consumption
§ rate of respiration is proportional to body mass –
grams body mass0.75
§ exponent varies across taxonomic groups
§ range is 0.6 to 0.9

Figure 7.19
106
Elephant
Oxygen consumption (cm3/hr)
105
Human
104
Cat
Dog
103
102 Squirrel
10 Mouse
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000

Body mass (kg)
§ Thermoneutral zone – the range of environmental
temperatures within with the metabolic rates of
homeotherms is minimal
§ outside of this zone, past the critical high and low
temperatures, metabolic rate increases

Figure 7.20
Resting metabolic rate
Lower Upper
critical critical
temperature temperature
Thermoneutral
zone
Ambient temperature

§ Maintaining a consistently high body temperature
includes specific enzyme systems that work best at
a high temperature range – set point about 40°C
§ Requires efficient respiratory and cardiovascular
systems to provide oxygen to tissues and allows
homeotherms to
§ sustain activity for long periods of time
§ live in a wider range of thermal environments
§ generate energy rapidly when needed
§ How is this body heat conserved?

§ Homeotherms use some type of insulation to
regulate heat exchange between body and
environment
§ What are some examples of this insulation?

§ Fur – mammals – insulation value varies with
thickness
§ Thickness usually greater in larger mammals
§ smaller mammals are limited in the amount of fur they
can carry because it can limit movement
§ Fur thickness can change with season – acclimation
§ Aquatic mammals often have no hair
§ instead have a layer of fat beneath the skin

§ Feathers – birds – heat loss is reduced when the
feather are fluffed
§ Also draw their feet into the body
§ some Arctic birds have feathered feet
§ Arctic and Antarctic birds have a layer of fat beneath
the skin

§ Insulation also keeps heat out of the body
§ Animals from hot environments must
§ rid themselves of excess body heat
§ prevent heat from being absorbed to begin with
§ light body color reflects solar radiation
§ heat will not penetrate heavy fur
§ camels – outer layers of hair absorb heat and returns it
to the environment
§ Some insects have a fur-like coat on the thoracic
region – retains high temperature for flight muscles

§ What happens if insulation fails to prevent body heat
loss? What do you do when you are cold?

§ Shivering – involuntary muscle action that increases
heat production
§ Brown fat – some small mammals burn brown fat,
which has many more mitochondria and generates
more heat
§ found in hibernators such as bats and groundhogs
§ How do homeotherms reduce body temperature?

§ Homeotherms reduce body temperature through
§ evaporative cooling
§ moisture evaporates from the skin and heat is lost
§ when body temperatures is above the upper critical
temperature
§ panting and sweating accelerate evaporative cooling
§ birds use gular fluttering
§ some animals wallow in water or wet mud

Section 7.11 Endothermy and Ectothermy
Involve Trade-offs
§ Endothermy and ectothermy are the two alternative
approaches to body temperature regulation in
animals
§ What are the advantages and disadvantages of
each strategy? Think of this in terms of cost and
benefit, or trade-offs.

Involve Trade-offs
§ Ectothermy
§ Benefits
§ lower metabolic rate requires fewer calories per gram
of body weight (less food)
§ can allocate more energy to producing biomass than
to metabolism
§ can reduce or curtail metabolic activity when food or
water is limited, or environmental conditions are
extreme
§ can live in environments where food and water are
limited

Involve Trade-offs
§ Ectothermy
§ Costs
§ temperature of the environment determines activity
§ maximum body size is constrained because heat is
absorbed across the body surface
§ surface/volume ratio becomes to low for heat to warm
the entire body mass
§ larger ectotherms can live in only in warmer
environments

Involve Trade-offs
§ Endothermy
§ Benefits
§ homeotherms can remain active even if
environmental temperature varies
§ maximum body size is not constrained because heat
is generated internally
§ large endotherms can live in cool environments

Involve Trade-offs
§ Endothermy
§ Costs
§ higher metabolic rate requires more calories per gram
of body weight (more food)
§ small endotherms must eat almost constantly – why?
§ usually allocate more energy to metabolism than to
producing biomass
§ producing insulation

Involve Trade-offs
§ Small endotherms must eat almost constantly
§ Small size means larger surface to volume ratio
§ more heat is lost to the environment
§ Heat loss is offset by increased metabolic rate
§ small shrews eat about their wet body weight in food
each day
§ Size limit of about 2 g on endotherms
§ some shrews and hummingbirds fall below this by
undergoing torpor daily to reduce metabolic needs

Figure 7.21
Shrew
7
Mass specific oxygen consumption
5
(liter O2/kg/hr)
3
Harvest Kangaroo
mouse mouse
Cactus
2
mouse
Mouse Rat Sheep Horse
Rabbit
1 Dog
Cat Man Elephant
Flying squirrel
0 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000

Body mass (kg)
Involve Trade-offs
§ One cost of endothermy is that endotherms usually
allocate more energy to metabolism than to
producing biomass
§ How does this affect the growth of young
endotherms?

Involve Trade-offs
§ Young endotherms are often born in an altricial state
§ blind, naked, helpless, ectotherms
§ Depend on parents to maintain body temperature
§ Allows them to allocate more energy to growth early
in life

Section 7.12 Heterotherms Take on
Characteristics of Ectotherms and Endotherms
§ What type of environmental conditions promote
heterothermy?
§ How are hibernation and torpor mechanisms of
temperature regulation for heterotherms?

§ Heterotherms have characteristics of both
ecotherms and endotherms
§ Temporal heterotherms have characteristics of
endotherms at some times and characteristics of
ecotherms at other times
§ may be daily or seasonally or only in certain situations

§ Insects are generally ectothermic poikilotherms
§ Adults of most flying species are heterotherms
§ Have a high metabolic rate when flying
§ Insect flight muscles function between 30°C and
44°C
§ Must warm up to take off – how do they do this?

§ How do insects warm up to take off?
§ most shiver their flight muscles
§ some vibrate their wings
§ some orient their bodies to the sun and spread their
wings
§ Once in flight, wings beat up to 200 times per
second, producing large amounts of heat
§ There is no physiological set point
§ When not flying, they cool to ambient temperatures

§ Small homeothermic animals become heterothermic
to reduce metabolic costs when they are inactive
§ Torpor – the dropping of the body temperature to
approximately ambient temperature for part of a day
§ diurnal animals – hummingbirds – enter torpor at
night
§ nocturnal animals – bats – enter torpor during the day
§ When the animal becomes active again, body
temperature quickly rises back to normal

Based on observations of torpor in a bird under
laboratory conditions:
A. body temperature declines rapidly at the onset of

torpor, then changes very little after the first hour.
B. O2 consumption increases as body temperature
decreases.
C. body temperature continues to declines throughout
torpor.
D. O2 consumption decreases as body temperature
increases.
E. Both A and B are correct.

Figure 7.22
Period of torpor
10 42
Oxygen consumption (mL O2/g/hr)
Tb Ta = 5°C
8 VO2

38
6
34
4
30
2
0 26
0 18:00 00:00 06:00
Time

Based on observations of torpor in a bird under
laboratory conditions:
A. body temperature declines rapidly at the onset of

torpor, then changes very little after the first hour.
B. O2 consumption increases as body temperature
decreases.
C. body temperature continues to declines throughout
torpor.
D. O2 consumption decreases as body temperature
increases.
E. Both A and B are correct.

§ To escape the harsh winter environment, some
homeothermic animals become seasonally
heterothermic.
§ What is this process called?

§ Hibernation – the dropping of the body temperature
to near ambient temperature for a long period of
time during the winter
§ a state of controlled hypothermia
§ heart rate, respiration, total metabolism drop
§ body temperature goes below 10°C
§ animal goes into acidosis
§ CO2 levels in the blood increase, blood pH decreases –
drops shivering threshold
§ Animals rewarm using only metabolic heat

§ How do animals prepare for hibernation?

§ How do animals prepare for hibernation?
§ some eat large amounts of food in late summer and
store energy in large fat reserves – groundhogs
§ Some collect large amounts of food and store it in
their burrow – chipmunks
§ Most hibernating species rouse from time to time,
then go back into torpor
§ species that store food spend less time in torpor
§ What is the advantage of hibernation for small
mammals?

§ What is the advantage of hibernation for small
mammals?
§ It is expensive to maintain a high constant body
temperature when the ambient temperature is low
and food is scarce
§ Reducing the metabolic rate and allowing the body
to cool is much less energetically expensive

§ What about bears, do they hibernate?
§ Black bears, grizzly bears, and female polar bears
do not hibernate
§ Enter winter sleep
§ body temperature drops only a few degrees
§ do not eat, drink, urinate or defecate
§ females give birth and nurse young at this time
§ are easily roused
§ How do they do this?

§ Undergo a metabolic change
§ Instead of excreting urea in urine, the bear recycles
it. It is broken down into amino acids that are used
to make plasma proteins.

Section 7.13 Some Animals Use Unique
Physiological Means for Thermal Balance
§ How can animals survive in environments with
extreme temperatures?
§ How do countercurrent heat exchange systems help
to conserve heat, or cool, parts of the body under
heat stress?

§ Animals in hot dry climates face a challenge – losing
heat without losing too much water through
evaporative cooling
§ Animals from these regions, such as the camel and
oryx, store body heat during the day
§ a camel’s temperature can rise from 34°C in the
morning to 41°C in late afternoon
§ Heat is dissipated at night
§ Reduces the need for evaporative cooling and so
reduces water loss

§ Ectotherms in cold climates endure long periods of
temperatures below freezing – how do they
withstand this without freezing solid?
§ Supercooling of body fluids – the body temperature
falls below the freezing point of water but does not
freeze
§ solutes in the blood lower the freezing point
§ animals from many different groups increase the
glycerol in body fluids
§ protects against freezing damage

§ Some aquatic invertebrates and aquatic insects do
freeze, then thaw when temperatures rise
§ More than 90 percent of the body fluid freezes
§ remaining fluids have a high solute concentration
§ ice is present outside the shrunken cells
§ muscles and organs become distorted
§ After thawing, normal shape is restored

§ A countercurrent heat exchange system requires
blood vessels that flow in opposite directions in
close proximity
§ can conserve heat or cool depending on the
configuration

Figure 7.23a
Blood flow without countercurrent heat exchange
Toward cold tail, flipper or foot

37° 32° 28°
Artery
24°
Vein
16° 18° 21°
From cold tail, flipper or foot
Temperature of blood declines

continuously as heat is lost to
the surrounding environment
as it flows into and out of the
(a) limb.

Figure 7.23b
Blood flow with countercurrent heat exchange
37° 29° 22°

Artery
15°
Vein
36° 28° 21°
With countercurrent exchange, the

close proximity of the artery and vein
allows heat to be transferred from the
warm arterial blood to the colder
venous blood as it travels back into the
body interior, conserving heat.
(b)

§ Cetaceans (whales and porpoises) have a thick
layer of blubber to conserve body heat but flippers
and flukes are uninsulated and can lose heat
§ Heat is exchanged between arteries carrying warm
blood from the body into the flipper and veins
returning cool blood from the flipper to the body
§ as the arterial blood moves further into the flipper, it
encounters cooler blood, so the transfer of heat
continues the length of the vessels within the flipper

Figure 7.23b
Blood flow with countercurrent heat exchange
37° 29° 22°

Artery
15°
Vein
36° 28° 21°
With countercurrent exchange, the

close proximity of the artery and vein
allows heat to be transferred from the
warm arterial blood to the colder
venous blood as it travels back into the
body interior, conserving heat.
(b)

§ The same arrangement of blood vessels is seen in
the legs of many birds

Figure 7.23c
Artery Vein
35° 33°
30° 27°
20° 18°
10° 9°
(c)

§ Rete – a vascular bundle or net composed to
arteries and veins divided into small, parallel,
intermingled vessels
§ Countercurrent exchange occurs when blood flows
in opposite directions through these parallel vessels
§ Can be used to cool or heat
§ the desert oryx cools its brain with a rete in its head
§ some fast swimming fish use a rete to warm muscles
used for swimming

Figure 7.24
Cooled
Cooled arterial
venous blood
blood
Brain
Evaporation
Warmed
arterial
blood
Section 7.14 An Animal’s Habitat Reflects a Wide
Variety of Adaptations to the Environment
§ Why are species found in certain locations and not
in others?
§ How do animals choose a habitat?

§ Habitat – a place in the environment where an
organism is found
§ A species is not found everywhere and is not
randomly distributed in the environment
§ The ability of the environment to provide essential
resources and the conditions necessary for survival,
growth and reproduction is the most fundamental
constraint
§ A species’ habitat reflects the diverse adaptations
relating to feeding and mating behaviors

§ Sessile organisms rely on passive dispersal to reach
a suitable habitat
§ Habitat selection – mobile organisms can actively
choose a location to inhabit
§ How does an organism determine if a location
provides suitable habitat?

§ Habitat selection is well-studied in birds
§ In that group, structural features of the vegetation
are strongly correlated with habitat selection
§ Vertical layers appear to be particularly important
§ shrubs, small trees, tall canopy
§ Structural features may relate to needs for food,
cover, nesting sites
§ Actual plant species present may also be important
§ particular seeds or fruit
§ presence of certain insects

Figure 7.25
9–10 m 18–30 m 15–30 m
(a) Yellowthroat (b) Hooded warbler (c) Ovenbird

§ Habitat selection is also seen in other groups of
vertebrates as well as insects
§ Garter snakes living on the shores of a lake choose
rocks that are of intermediate thickness for retreats
§ thick rocks do not warm up sufficiently
§ thin rocks become too hot
§ Aphids that parasitize cottonwoods choose larger
leaves over smaller leaves
§ also choose particular positions on the leaf that
provide a better source of food

Ecological Issues & Applications: Increasing Global
Temperature Is Affecting the Body Size of Animals
§ Body size is an important phenotypic trait in animals
§ it influences many physiological and ecological
processes
§ How does Bergmann’s rule describe geographic
variation in body size?
§ Are patterns of recent climate warming having an
effect on the body size of animals?

§ Bergmann’s Rule – for endotherms, body size for a
species tends to increase with decreasing mean
annual temperature
§ This produces a cline in body size concordant with
latitude (spatial)
§ Similar changes in body size have also been seen
over time (temporal)

§ In the fossil record of horses
§ High global temperatures during the Paleocene-
Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM)
§ Body size decreased by about 30 percent from the
beginning of the PETM
§ As temperatures cooled after the PETM, body size
increased by 76 percent

§ What about recent temperature increases?
§ There has been an increase of 0.6°C during the past
century
§ In red-billed gulls data on body size are available
from 1958 through 2004
§ mean body mass has decreased over this period of
time
§ Similar patterns have been seen in other birds and
mammals
§ the most pronounced changes are seen in
populations from northern latitudes
Figure 7.27
1.0
Anomaly of temperature (°C)

0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0
-1.5
-2.0
1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020
Year
(a)
340
Mean age corrected body mass (g)
320
300
280
260
240
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Hatching year
(b)
§ However, some studies have shown an increase in
body size with rising temperatures
§ Why is there this apparent discrepancy?
§ In cold regions, increasing temperature may allow a
reduction in the cost of metabolism, allowing more
energy to be used for growth

§ Environmental temperatures also have direct and
indirect effects through processes other than
thermoregulation
§ Temperature can influence food availability and
nutrition
§ a study on otters in Sweden from 1962–2008 showed
an increase in average body size
§ increased temperature reduced the length of time ice
covered the lakes, allowing otters access to food for a
longer period of time during the year

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Elements of ECOLOGY Lecture Presentation by

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Functions to modify the

Measures the internal

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Temperature regulation in the human body

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(a) Insect Spiracle

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Gill arches Operculum

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