Chapter 44

Regulating the
Internal
Environment
 Homeostasis

Thermoregulation
Osmoregulation
Excretion
 Homeostasis

All organisms must maintain a

constant internal environment to
function properly
Temperature
pH
ion levels
hormones
 Negative Feedback
Body Temperature Regulation
Coping with Environmental Fluctuations

Regulating:
Endotherms are thermoregulators
Fundulus-osmoregulator

Conforming:
Ectotherms
Many inverts- nonregulator
Regulators & Conformers

Spider crab Libinia

Anadromous Salmon
 Four physical processes account
for heat gain or loss
Heat exchange by:
Conduction- transfer of heat between objects in
direct contact with each other
Convection- heat is conducted away from an
object of high temp to low temp
- Rate varies with different materials
Radiation- transfers heat between objects not in
direct contact
- sun energy
Evaporation- change of liquid to vapor
- cooling
Heat exchange between an organism
and its environment
Ectotherm vs Endotherm
Advantages of Endothermy :

Maintains stable body temp

Cooling & heating the body
cooling and heating the body
high levels of aerobic metabolism
sustains vigorous activity for much longer than
ectotherms
Long distance running
Flight
 Disadvantages of Endothermy :

Greater food consumption to meet

metabolic needs

Human metabolic mate at 200C & at rest

1,300 to 1,800 kcal per day.
American alligator metabolic rate at 200C
& at rest
60 kcal per day at 200C.
Mechanisms for thermoregulation
Insulation
- Fur
- Hair
- Feathers
- Fat
- Blubber
Evaporative cooling
- sweating, panting, bathing
Shivering
Nonshivering thermogenesis & brown fat
Circulation adaptations
- Countercurrent exchange
- Vasodilatation (cooling)
- Vasoconstriction (heat conservation)
Behavioral responses
 Countercurrent heat exchangers

Goose leg Dolphin flipper

Evaporative Cooling

Hippos bathing
Brown Fat & Non-shivering Thermogenesis

Brown fat- generates heat

important in neonates, small mammals in
cold environments, and animals that
hibernate
Located in neck and in inner scapula area

Non-shivering Thermogenesis
Larges amts of heat produced by oxidizing
fatty acids in the mitochondria
Regulating Body Temp in Humans
Acclimatization to New Env. Temps.
Endotherms (birds and mammals): grow a thicker fur
coat in the winter and shedding it in the summer -
and sometimes by varying the capacity for metabolic
heat production seasonally.
Ectotherms compensate for changes in body
temperature through adjustments in physiology and
temperature tolerance.
For example, winter-acclimated catfish can only
survive temperatures at high as 28oC, but summer-
acclimated fish can survive temperatures to 36oC.
 Some ectotherms that experience subzero
body temperatures protect themselves by
producing antifreeze compounds
(cryoprotectants) that prevent ice formation
in the cells.
In cold climates, cryoprotectants in the body
fluids let overwintering ectotherms, such as
some frogs and many arthropods and their
eggs, withstand body temperatures
considerably below zero.
Cyroprotectants are also found in some Arctic
and Antarctic fishes, where temperatures can
drop below the freezing point of unprotected
body fluids (about -0.7oC).
 Cells can often make rapid adjustments to
temperature changes.
For example, marked increases in temperature
or other sources of stress induce cells grown in
culture to produce stress-induced proteins,
including heat-shock proteins, within minutes.
These molecules help maintain the integrity of
other proteins that would be denatured by
severe heat.
These proteins are also produced in bacteria,
yeast, and plants cells, as well as other animals.
These help prevent cell death when an
organism is challenged by severe changes in
the cellular environment.
 Hibernation: long-term torpor as an
adaptation to long-term winter cold and food
shortage

Torpor in Ground Squirrels

Body temperature: 37oC
Metabolic rate: 85 kcal per day.
During the eight months the squirrel is in
hibernation, its body temperature is only a few
degrees above burrow temperature and its
metabolic rate is very low.
Body Temperature and metabolism during hibernation
of Beldings ground squirrel
 Osmoregulation

Osmoregulation- the control of the

concentration of body fluids.

Diffusion- movement of substance

from an area of greater concentration
to an area of lower concentration

Osmosis- diffusion of water through a

semipermeable membrane
Adaptation to Marine Environment
Reducing salt

Seabird and marine iguana- nasal salt

secreting gland
Sea snake- sublingual gland
Crocodile- lacrimal gland
Fish gills- chloride cells
Shark- rectal gland
Salt Excretion in Birds
Nitrogenous Waste Excretion

Ammonia- toxic
- Excrete directly into water- jellies
- Detoxifyurea
Urea- need lots of water to get rid of
Uric Acid- birds & reptiles
- more costly to produce than urea,
but needs less water to be
removed
Strategies to remove Nitrogenous Waste
 Balancing NaCl in Blood
Osmoconformer: isoosmotic
Osmoregulator: hyper-, hypo-,

ureoosmotic
Euryhaline: wide tolerance range
Stenohaline: narrow tolerance range

Osmols- total solute concentration in moles of solute/liter

of solution
 Marine Fish: hypoosmotic
Less salt than
H2O continually leaves body
external
environment

continually
drinks
seawater

excretes salt
through gills
produces small
amts of dilute urine
Freshwater Fish: hyperosmotic

H2O continually enters body

does not
drinks
water

More salt than

produces large external
amts of dilute urine environment
 Shark and Coelacanth: ureoosmotic
Maintains high levels of urea
and TMAO in blood

excretes salt
through
rectal gland

coelacanth Rana cancrivora

Osmolarity in Freshwater and Saltwater

Osmolarity- measure of total

solutes(dissolved particles)

Ions FW m osmol/l SW m osmol/l

Na+ 1 470
Cl- 1 550
Ca++ variable 10
Total 10 1000
 Concentration of Ions
Habitat Na+ Cl- Urea

seawater sw 478 558

hagfish (Myxine) sw 537 542
lamprey fw 120 96
Goldfish (Carassius) fw 115 107
Toadfish (Opsanus) sw 160
Crab-eating frog (Rana) sw 252 227 350
Dogfish sw 287 240 354
freshwater ray fw 150 149 <1
coelacanth sw 197 199 350
Adaptations to Dry Environment

Many desert animals dont drink water

Kangaroo rats lose so little water that
they can recover 90% of the loss from
metabolic water and gain the
remaining 10% in their diet of seeds.
Also have long loop of Henle
 Most excretory systems
produce a filtrate by
pressure-filtering body
fluids into tubules.
 Diverse excretory systems are
variations on a tubular theme
Flatworms have an excretory system
called protonephridia,
consisting of a branching
network of dead-end tubules.
The flame bulb draws water
and solutes from the
interstitial fluid, through
the flame bulb, and into
the tubule system.
 Metanephridia consist of internal openings
that collect body fluids from the coelom
through a ciliated funnel, the nephrostome,
and release the fluid through the
nephridiopore.
Found in most annelids, each segment of a
worm has a pair of metanephridia.
 Insects and other terrestrial arthropods
have organs called Malpighian tubules
that remove nitrogenous wastes and also
function in osmoregulation.
These open into the
digestive system
and dead-end at
tips that are
immersed in
the hemolymph.
Nephron
Hormonal Control via Negative Feedback
Hormonal Control