42 Chapter Review
practice tests, and more in the Study Area.
SuMMARy oF Key CoNCepTS
Animals have diverse diets. Herbivores mainly eat
plants; carnivores mainly eat other animals; and
omnivores eat both. Animals must balance con-
sumption, storage, and use of food.
CoNCepT 42.1
An animal’s diet must supply chemical
energy, organic building blocks,
and essential nutrients (pp. 973–976)
Food provides animals with energy for ATP production, carbon
skeletons for biosynthesis, and essential nutrients—nutrients
that must be supplied in preassembled form. Essential nutrients
include certain amino acids and fatty acids that animals cannot
synthesize; vitamins, which are organic molecules; and
minerals, which are inorganic substances.
Malnutrition results from an inadequate intake of essential
nutrients or a deficiency in sources of chemical energy. Studies of
disease at the population level help researchers determine human
dietary requirements.
? How can an enzyme cofactor needed for an essential process be an
essential nutrient for only some animals?
CoNCepT 42.2
Food processing involves ingestion, digestion,
absorption, and elimination (pp. 976–979)
Animals differ in the ways they obtain and ingest food. Many ani-
mals are bulk feeders, eating large pieces of food. Other strategies
include filter feeding, substrate feeding, and fluid feeding.
Compartmentalization is necessary to avoid self-digestion. In intra-
cellular digestion, food particles are engulfed by phagocytosis and
digested within food vacuoles that have fused with lysosomes. In
extracellular digestion, which is used by most animals, enzymatic
hydrolysis occurs outside cells in a gastrovascular cavity or
alimentary canal.
? Propose an artificial diet that would eliminate the need for one of the
first three steps in food processing.
CoNCepT 42.3
organs specialized for sequential stages of food
processing form the mammalian digestive system
(pp. 979–985)
Veins to heart Hepatic portal vein
Lymphatic system
Absorbed food Absorbed
Mouth Stomach (except lipids) water
Esophagus Lipids
Small intestine
Secretions Secretions from
from salivary gastric glands Secretions from liver
glands Secretions from pancreas
? What structural feature of the small intestine makes it better suited for
absorption of nutrients than the stomach?
Go to MasteringBiology™ for videos, Animations, vocab Self-Quiz,
CoNCepT 42.4
evolutionary adaptations of vertebrate digestive
systems correlate with diet (pp. 985–988)
Vertebrate digestive systems display many evolutionary adapta-
tions associated with diet. For example, the assortment of teeth
VoCAB (dentition) generally correlates with diet. Also, many herbivores
SelF-QuIZ
goo.gl/rn5Uax have fermentation chambers where mutualistic microorgan-
isms digest cellulose. In addition, herbivores usually have longer
alimentary canals than carnivores, reflecting the longer time
needed to digest vegetation.
? How does human anatomy indicate that our primate ancestors were
not strict vegetarians?
CoNCepT 42.5
Feedback circuits regulate digestion, energy
storage, and appetite (pp. 988–992)
Nutrition is regulated at multiple levels. Food intake triggers ner-
vous and hormonal responses that cause secretion of digestive
juices and promote movement of ingested material through the
canal. The hormones insulin and glucagon control the synthesis
and breakdown of glycogen, thereby regulating glucose availability.
Vertebrates store excess calories in glycogen (in liver and muscle
cells) and in fat (in adipose cells). These energy stores can be tapped
when an animal expends more calories than it consumes. If, how-
ever, an animal consumes more calories than it needs for normal
metabolism, the resulting overnourishment can cause obesity.
Several hormones, including leptin and insulin, regulate appetite
by affecting the brain’s satiety center.
? Explain why your stomach might make growling noises when you
skip a meal.
TeST youR uNDeRSTANDING
Multiple-choice Self-Quiz questions 1–7 can be found
in the Study Area in MasteringBiology.
8. DRAW IT Create a flowchart to summarize the
events that occur after partially digested food leaves
the stomach. Use the following terms: bicarbonate
secretion, circulation, decrease in acidity, increase
in acidity, secretin secretion, signal detection. pRACTICe
Next to each term, indicate the compartment(s) TeST
goo.gl/iAsvgL
involved. You may use terms more than once.
9. eVoluTIoN CoNNeCTIoN Lizards and snakes
cannot breathe while chewing food because the connection
Liver
between their external nostrils and their esophagus is in the
mouth. In contrast, mammals can continue breathing through
the nostrils while chewing food in the mouth. However,
choking sometimes occurs when the paths of air and food
cross each other. Thinking about the high oxygen demand
of active endotherms, explain how the concept of descent
with modification explains this “imperfect” anatomy of some
Anus amniotes (see Figure 34.2 to review vertebrate phylogeny).
Large Rectum 10. SCIeNTIFIC INQuIRy In human populations of northern
intestine
European origin, the disorder called hemochromatosis causes
excess iron uptake from food and affects one in 200 adults.
Among adults, men are ten times as likely as women to suffer
chApter 42 Animal Digestive Systems 993
 from iron overload. Taking into account the existence of a
menstrual cycle in humans, propose a hypothesis that explains
this difference.
11. WRITe ABouT A THeMe: oRGANIZATIoN Vitamin D is
required by humans for healthy teeth and bones. In a short
essay (100–150 words), explain why having an excess of vitamin
D in the diet can be toxic to the body.
12. SyNTHeSIZe youR KNoWleDGe

Hummingbirds are well adapted to obtain sugary nectar from

flowers, but they use some of the energy obtained from nectar
when they forage for insects or spiders, as this individual is
doing. Explain why this foraging is necessary.

For selected answers, see Appendix A.

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994 Unit Seven Animals: Structure and Function