Adaptions in Ectothermic and Endothermic Animals to Extreme Climates

3. Convection the transfer of heat through currents of gases or liquids. (occurs passively as warmer air at the surface of the body rises away from the body and is replaced by cooler air – process is aided by wind or fans)

Temperature is a key influence that can change the respiratory rate of an ectothermic animal: Carassius auratus (commonly known as a goldfish). The respiration of a goldfish will change depending on certain factors. First, goldfish are exothermic, as are all fish. Their body temperature is determined largely by the temperature of the surrounding water. They absorb energy from the water (and to a far lesser extent, from sunlight) and they release energy back into the water. This means that goldfish are at the mercy of the water temperature to regulate critical body functions (FishChannel.com).

The results from the first study indicated that rats were capable of responding to the energetic demands of their thermal environment with metabolic compensations. Throughout development, warm-housed

Orconectes propinquus is an ectotherm where its body temperature varies with the environment. Their metabolic rate can be affected in response to change in temperature. Decreasing body temperature causes change in the physical chemistry of the cell to reduce metabolic activity. (Johnston and Dunn, 1987) When the body temperature increases, metabolic rate increases exponentially (Hill et al., 2012). This suggests an allometric relationship between metabolic rate and body mass.

The warming temperatures, cause Sea ice and freshwater glacial ice to melt, and as the ice continues to thaw, many species are starting to find it increasingly difficult to adapt to the intensifying changes (WWF, 2015). These species are then experiencing change in distribution and diversity within their population (Weart, 2015). An arctic that is less diverse will cause an increase in competition as it will be harder for animals to find food, causing a change in their feeding habits (Green facts, 2001). This also causes them to use more of their stored energy as they have to improve their hunting skills and be able to go longer before finding food. Scientists are seeing dramatic changes as the arctic has risen in temperature by almost 10 degrees Fahrenheit since 1949 and now are saying the Arctic could be completely ice free in the summer of 2030 (climate graphics, 2015). Noticeably, these species are losing their habitat and need a way to survive as they will not be able to move further north to keep cool like most other species (climate graphics, 2015). Though researchers found that most species can manage the changing climate by adapting themselves to the new conditions in their ecosystem, scientists wonder whether or not these species in the arctic will be able to adapt fast enough to keep up with the rapid pace of their changing climate (Lavergne, 2010; Salamin, 2010). These species in the future may no longer be adapted to the environmental conditions in the arctic because of these changes, and could therefore fall outside their climatic niche (globe and mail, 2015). With all these dramatically harsh changes, this makes it more difficult for the arctic species to survive, in these cases, micro-evolution may be needed for them to continue (Visser 2008). Otherwise, without enough sea ice, the

3. The body changes energy, ATP, into kinetic energy making the body move or thermal energy to keep it warm.

Any organism whose temperature alters very little, despite variations in the surrounding temperature, must have mechanisms that are regulating its body temperature. Under normal circumstances, humans maintain a body core temperature in the range of 36.1°C to 37.8°C. When the core temperature is in this range, it provides the optimum conditions for the body to functions. External factors, infection or exercise can cause the body to make changes to regulate its core temperature. And these responses may be physiological or behavioural.

The human body is easily affected by external environments, as such heat stroke or hypothermia may occur if the body cannot regulate the parameters back to constant through the homeostatic mechanism. In order to maximize our bodies’ functions, appropiate heat lose or heat gain mechanisms are necessary and however, if we cannot ensure the parameters are constant since like when the external environments are too cold, heat will be stored inside our core body for a larger extent but not for the limbs. Therefore, when we meet very cold environments, we can survive for a longer time through the help of homeostasis and keep our body functional. But since we cannot exceed the limits of parameters, hypothermia in this case may happen when homeostasis

Reptiles are a group of vertebrates that live under various environments both aquatic and terrestrial ranged from the tropical desert to the Arctic Ocean. Common types of reptiles include snakes, lizards, salamanders, crocodiles and turtles. Reptiles are ectoderms that adjust their own body temperature according to the environmental temperature, and reptiles can survive in relatively extreme temperatures. It is interesting to study whether the body temperature affects the locomotion of reptiles, and if it does, how the relationship between body temperature and the locomotion of reptiles plays out. What contributes to such temperature’s effect on locomotion?

To further elaborate on this point, we can take temperature regulation as an example. The body temperature varies during physical exercise or being affected by the external environment. The human body regulates the core temperatues using the hypothalamic temperature senorses in the brain as well as other parts of the body. When the external environment is very cold and the core body temperature drops, the control centre in the brain (the hypothalamus) functions as the thermostat, that triggers an effector response that aim to restore the body temperature to a normal state. The thermoregulatory responses are divided to physicological and behavioural. For physiological responses, the skin blood vessels contrists, so that blood is diverted from

Heat loss in humans is aided by reduction of activity, by perspiration, and by heat-exchange mechanisms that permit larger amounts of blood to circulate near the skin surface (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2015). Homeostasis also acts on maintaining our blood pressure and heart rates within normal parameters. The average human heart rate is approximately 70 beats per minute, but varies greatly from person to person (Langley, 1965, 47). Negative feedback systems regulate hundreds of different variables including body temperature, blood sugar levels, blood volume, heart rates (HR), breathing rates, blood pressure (BP), and blood levels of oxygen, carbon dioxide and minerals (Marieb & Hoehn, 2013,

The first is called thermo-regulatory and actually has two forms. They are Shivering and Non-shivering. Obviously you know that shivering when you're cold makes you warmer. It causes the skeletal muscles to shake which creates body heat. It is the body's way of trying to regulate the 98.7 degree (f) normal body temperature. The second type, non-shivering, fits with the last classification of diet-induced thermogenesis. That will be discusses in a minute. The next form is work-induced from exercise and working out. Muscles work much better when they are warm rather than cold. When you exercise your body produces heat so your muscles perform more

Digestion, growth and repair, respiration and manufacture of hormones are some of the chemical reactions taking place inside your body. All these reactions together are known as your metabolism. 

The heat they produce as a by-product maintains your body temperature regardless of the temperature regardless of the temperature of your surroundings. Because humans can maintain a constant body temperature, they are said to be endothermic. However, if the temperature inside your body was to increase by more than a few degrees above 37°C, your metabolism would stop, and you would die. If your body temperature

In order to test the hypothesis concerning adaptations to a thermal environment the rate of loss of temperature was measured for each adaptation. Peeps were used as a model organism to mimic the consistency and conductivity of tissue. Metal thermometers were heated and then placed in the Peeps. The Peeps were taken to Peach Tree Nature preserve, a local hardwood forest, and placed in the environment. The Peeps were partitioned into four separate groups with five in each group. There was one experimental group that was covered with bird feathers and then placed outside for 15 min next to a naked control group. There was another experimental group that was naked and buried under leaves, which also had a naked control group placed next to it. After 15 min periods the Peeps were taken out of their environment and the data was collected. The data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel and ANOVA. ANOVA was used to give a P-value of significance, and Microsoft Excel was used to calculate the standard deviation and confidence intervals.

Previous studies have not considered the temperature control mechanisms of human body when a conflicting information is received from peripheral and central thermoreceptors. Our experiment was designed to investigate how the thermoregulation mechanism was activated when there was a passive heating to the human body and to find out how the body would react to the situation when the human was experiencing the heating and cooling simultaneously. Our first hypothesis was accepted, where the body regulated cutaneous vasodilation to enhance heat loss through sweat evaporation and all the respiratory parameters were increased in order to supply the higher demand of oxygen. However, the second hypothesis was rejected, as the peripheral control had more influence than central control when the body received increased temperature to the leg and decreased temperature at the same time.