Chapter 40

Basic Principles of Animal

Form and Function
PowerPoint Lectures for
Biology, Seventh Edition
Neil Campbell and Jane Reece

Animal Form and Function

Overview: Diverse Forms, Common Challenges
Animals inhabit almost every part of the
biosphere
Despite their amazing diversity
All animal species face a similar set of problems,
(e.g., how to move in their environment and how
to nourish themselves)

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Form and Function Evolutionary Perspective

The comparative study of animals reveals that
form and function are closely correlated
Natural selection can fit structure, anatomy, to
function, physiology
By selecting, over many generations, what
works best among the available variations in a
population

Figure 40.1
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Form and Function Evolutionary Perspective

Evolutionary convergence
Reflects different species independent
adaptation to a similar environmental challenge

(a) Tuna

(b) Shark

(c) Penguin

(d) Dolphin

Figure 40.2ae

(e) Seal

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Animal Size and Shape

Physical laws and the
environment constrain
animal size and shape
Physical laws and the
need to exchange
materials with the
environment place certain
limits on the range of
animal forms
The ability to perform
certain actions depends on
an animals shape and size
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Animal Lengths (including Animal-like Protists)

Length of Animal or Protist

Approx. No. of Species

Less than 0.01 inches

20,000

0.01 to 0.1 inches

220,000

0.1 to 1.0 inches

600,000

1.0 to 10.0 inches

20,000

10.0 to 100.0 inches

1,500

More than 100 inches

10

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The Creator has an inordinate

fondness for beetles.
- J.B.S. Haldane,
evolutionary biologist

Life on earth is best not for the

strongest or the most
intelligent but for animals of
just the right size.
- Anonymous

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Pros and Cons of Large Animals

Benefits
lower surface to volume ratio means less dehydration
(terrestrial niches).
body retains heat better; constant temperature possible in
some vertebrates.
expend less energy to move

Negatives
more niches available for small animals; food a limited
resource
skeletal support (architectural problems).
complex circulatory, respiratory systems required.
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Consequences of Animal Size

The larger the animal the more complexity
required to transport nutrients, wastes, and
respiratory gases.
A protist can move without muscles, digest
without a gut, excrete without a kidney, and
respire without gills or lungs.

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Consequences of Animal Size

Multicellular organisms with a sac-like body plan
Have body walls that are only two cells thick,
facilitating diffusion of materials
Mouth

Gastrovascular
cavity
Diffusion

Diffusion

Figure 40.3b

(b) Two cell layers

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Animals with complex body plans have highly folded internal surfaces
specialized for exchanging materials
External environment
Mouth

Food

CO2

O2

oo
Bl

Respiratory
system

0.5 cm

Cells
Heart

Nutrients

Circulatory
system

50 m

Animal
body

A microscopic view of the lung reveals

that it is much more spongelike than
balloonlike. This construction provides
an expansive wet surface for gas
exchange with the environment (SEM).
10 m

Interstitial
fluid

Digestive
system

Excretory
system

The lining of the small intestine, a digestive organ, is elaborated with fingerlike
projections that expand the surface area
for nutrient absorption (cross-section, SEM).
Anus
Unabsorbed
matter (feces)

Figure 40.4
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Metabolic waste
products (urine)

Inside a kidney is a mass of microscopic

tubules that exhange chemicals with
blood flowing through a web of tiny
vessels called capillaries (SEM).

Organ systems in mammals

Table 40.1

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Homeostasis:
A dynamic state of stability between an animals
internal environment and its external environment.
A balance between external change and the
animals internal control mechanisms that oppose
the changes
Water stabilizes internal body temperature;
enzymes function best at optimal temperatures.
(Biology Courses in Ecophysiology or Physiological Ecology)

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Regulating and Conforming

Regulating and conforming are two extremes in
how animals cope with environmental
fluctuations
An animal is said to be a regulator
If it uses internal control mechanisms to
moderate internal change in the face of
external, environmental fluctuation

An animal is said to be a conformer

If it allows its internal condition to vary with
certain external changes
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Thermoregulation
contributes to homeostasis and
involves anatomy, physiology, and
behavior
is the process by which animals
maintain an internal temperature
within a tolerable range

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Ectotherms and Endotherms

Invertebrates, fishes,
amphibians and reptiles other
than birds are ectothermic,
meaning that
They gain their heat mostly
from external sources
They have lower metabolic
rates and tolerate greater
variation in internal temperature

40
Body temperature (C)

Ectotherms

River otter (endotherm)

30

20
Largemouth bass (ectotherm)

10

0
10
20
30
40
Ambient (environmental) temperature (C)

Endotherms
Birds and mammals are endothermic, meaning that
their bodies are warmed mostly by heat generated
by metabolism and they typically have higher
metabolic rates
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Fig. 40-9

(a) A walrus, an endotherm

(b) A lizard, an ectotherm

Poikilotherms and Homeotherms

Poikilotherm: an animal whose body
temperature varies with the environment in
which it lives
Homeotherm: an animal that has a relatively
constant body temperature
Not all ectotherms are poikilotherms and
not all endotherms are homeotherms

Copyright 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Animal SUVs
Endothermy is more energetically expensive
than ectothermy
But buffers animals internal temperatures
against external fluctuations
And enables the animals to maintain a high
level of aerobic metabolism
Some dinosaurs may have become
endotherms How would we know???

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Modes of Heat Exchange

Organisms exchange heat by four physical
processes
Radiation is the emission of electromagnetic
waves by all objects warmer than absolute
zero. Radiation can transfer heat between
objects that are not in direct contact, as when
a lizard absorbs heat radiating from the sun.

Convection is the transfer of heat by the

Figure 40.13

movement of air or liquid past a surface,

as when a breeze contributes to heat loss
from a lizards dry skin, or blood moves
heat from the body core to the extremities.

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Evaporation is the removal of heat from the surface of a

liquid that is losing some of its molecules as gas.
Evaporation of water from a lizards moist surfaces that
are exposed to the environment has a strong cooling effect.

Conduction is the direct transfer of thermal motion (heat)

between molecules of objects in direct contact with each
other, as when a lizard sits on a hot rock.

Balancing Heat Loss and Gain

Thermoregulation involves physiological and
behavioral adjustments that balance heat gain
and loss
Insulation, which is a major thermoregulatory
adaptation in mammals and birds
Reduces the flow of heat between an animal
and its environment
May include feathers, fur, or blubber

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Balancing Heat Loss and Gain

In mammals, the integumentary system acts as
insulating material

Hair
Epidermis

Sweat
pore
Muscle

Dermis

Nerve
Sweat
gland

Hypodermis
Adipose tissue

Figure 40.14

Blood vessels

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Oil gland
Hair follicle

Circulatory Adaptations
Many endotherms and some ectotherms
Can alter the amount of blood flowing
between the body core and the skin

In vasodilation
Blood flow in the skin increases,
facilitating heat loss

In vasoconstriction
Blood flow in the skin decreases, lowering
heat loss

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Circulatory Adaptations
Many marine mammals and birds
Have arrangements of blood vessels called
countercurrent heat exchangers that are important
for reducing heat loss
1 Arteries carrying warm blood down the
legs of a goose or the flippers of a dolphin
are in close contact with veins conveying
cool blood in the opposite direction, back
toward the trunk of the body. This
arrangement facilitates heat transfer
from arteries to veins (black
arrows) along the entire length
of the blood vessels.

Canada
goose

Artery
1
35C
30

2 Near the end of the leg or flipper, where

arterial blood has been cooled to far below
Vein
the animals core temperature, the artery
can still transfer heat to the even colder
3
blood of an adjacent vein. The venous blood
33
continues to absorb heat as it passes warmer
and warmer arterial blood traveling in the
opposite direction.
27

20

18

10

Pacific
bottlenose
dolphin

Blood flow

Vein
Artery

2
3 As the venous blood approaches the
center of the body, it is almost as warm
as the body core, minimizing the heat lost
as a result of supplying blood to body parts
immersed in cold water.

Figure 40.15
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In the flippers of a dolphin, each artery is

surrounded by several veins in a
countercurrent arrangement, allowing
efficient heat exchange between arterial
and venous blood.

How Endotherms deal with Cold

Non-shivering thermiogenesis using arrector pili muscles
Shivering thermiogenesis (mammals)
Thick pelage and down feathers
Continuous insulating layer of
subcutaneous fat (mammals; blubber of whales)
Store extra energy as fat (white and brown)
Shorter extremities(Allens Rule); greater mass
(Bergmanns Rule)

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Brown Fat

28-5

How Endotherms deal with Heat

Burrowing during heat of the day; nocturnal activity;

aestivation; daily torpor in small

endotherms like hummingbirds
Evaporative cooling by perspiration & panting
Storing fat reserve in one place under the
skin to avoid its insulating effect
Elongate, well-vascularized extremities (Allens
Rule); lower body weight (Bergmanns Rule)

Estivation and Daily Torpor

Estivation, or summer torpor
Enables animals to
survive long periods of
high temperatures and
scarce water supplies

Daily torpor
Is exhibited by many small
mammals and birds and
seems to be adapted to
their feeding patterns

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Ruby-throated
hummingbird during
daily torpor

Torpor and Energy Conservation

Torpor enables animals to save energy while avoiding difficult and dangerous
conditions; it is a physiological state in which activity is low and metabolism
decreases

Hibernation is long-term torpor that is an adaptation to winter cold and food

scarcity during which the animals body temperature declines;
click to find out how hibernation can now be induced in squirrels
Additional metabolism that would be
necessary to stay active in winter

Figure 40.22

Metabolic rate
(kcal per day)

200
Actual
metabolism
100
0

Arousals

35

Body
temperature

Temperature (C)

30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Outside
temperature

-5

Burrow
temperature

-10
-15

June

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August

October

December

February

April

Feedback Mechanisms in Thermoregulation

Mammals regulate their body
temperature by a complex
negative feedback system that
involves several organ systems
In humans, a specific part of
the brain, the
hypothalamus
Contains a group of nerve
cells that function as
a thermostat
Figure 40.21
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Sweat glands secrete

sweat that evaporates,
cooling the body.

Thermostat in
hypothalamus
activates cooling
mechanisms.

Increased body
temperature (such
as when exercising
or in hot
surroundings)

Blood vessels
in skin dilate:
capillaries fill
with warm blood;
heat radiates from
skin surface.

Body temperature
decreases;
thermostat
shuts off cooling
mechanisms.

Homeostasis:
Internal body temperature
of approximately 3638C

Body temperature
increases;
thermostat
shuts off warming
mechanisms.

Decreased body
temperature
(such as when
in cold
surroundings)
Blood vessels in skin
constrict, diverting blood
from skin to deeper tissues
and reducing heat loss
from skin surface.

Skeletal muscles rapidly

contract, causing shivering,
which generates heat.

Thermostat in
hypothalamus
activates
warming
mechanisms.