BIOL 1011 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Body Water, Osmotic Concentration, Thermogenesis
Document Summary
Lecture 6 regulation of temperature and solutes. Regulator is an organism that uses internal mechanisms to control internal change in the face of external fluctuation. Conformer is an organism that allows its internal condition to change in accordance with external changes in the variable. Regulators use homeostatic mechanisms to control internal changes. Conformers allow their internal condition to change and hence may be able to tolerate greater ranges for physiological parameters (can be advantageous to energy conservation) and their internal stability is also possible in stable environment. Physiological parameters being regulated: thermoregulation (temperature, osmoregulation (body water and solute concentration) Thermoregulation is the maintenance of an internal temperature within a tolerable range: biochemical and physiological processes are sensitive to changes in temperature, enzyme reaction rates and membrane fluidity vary with temperature. Endotherms are organisms that rely on metabolism as their major heat source. Thermoregulation requires maintaining equal rates of heat gain and heat loss.
