10.1 Temperature Regulation Flashcards
(42 cards)
Similarly, homeostatic processes in animals trigger psychological and behavioural activities that keep certain variables with in a set range. In many cases, the range is so narrow that we refer to it as a ___ ____, a single value that the body works to maintain.
set point
Psychologist Walter B. Cannon (1929) introduced the term ____ to refer to temperature regulation and other biological processes they keep the body variables within a fixed range.
homoeostasis
Mechanisms maintain ____ blood levels of water, oxygen, glucose, sodium chloride, protein, fat, and acidity.
constant
Processes that reduce discrepancies from the set point are known as ____ ____.
negative feedback
Much of ____ ____ can be described as negative feedback: something causes a disturbance, and behaviour proceeds until it relieves the disturbance.
motivated behaviour
The body’s setpoints change from time to time. To describe these dynamic changes, researchers use the term ____, which means the adaptive way in which the body changes its set points depending on the situation. Much of that control depends on cell in the hypothalamus.
allostasis
If you were to list your strongest motivations of life, you might not think to include ____ ____, but it has a high priority biologically.
temperature regulation
An average young adult expends about 2600 _____ (kcal) per day. Where do you suppose all that energy goes?
kilocalories
Most of our energy goes to ____ ____, the energy used to maintain a constant body temperature while at rest. Maintaining your body temperature requires about twice as much energy as do all other activities combined.
basal metabolism
Amphibians, reptiles, and most fish are ____. That is, their body temperature matches the temperature of their environment.
poikilothermic
Poikilothermic animals lack physiological mechanisms of temperature regulation, such as shivering and sweating. The informal term is ____, but that term is misleading because poikilothermic animals remain warm most of the day by choosing an appropriate location.
cold-blooded
Mammals and birds are ____, except that certain species become poikilothermic during hibernation. Homeothermic animals use physiological mechanisms to maintain a nearly constant body temperature despite changes in the temperature of the environment.
homeothermic
Homeothermy is costly, especially for small animals. An animal generates heat in proportion to its total ____, but it radiates heat in proportion to its ____ ____.
Mass : surface area
To cool ourselves when the air is warmer than body temperature, we have only one physiological mechanism – _____. Humans sweat to expose water for evaporation.
evaporation
As water evaporates, it ____ the body. However, if the air is humid as well as hot, the moisture does not evaporate.
cools
Furthermore, you endanger your health if you cannot drink enough to replace the water you lose by sweating. If you sweat without drinking, you start becoming ____. You then protect your body water by decreasing your sweat, despite the risk of overheating.
dehydrated
Several physiological mechanisms increase your body heat in a cold environment. One is ____. Any muscle contractions, such as those of shivering, generate heat.
shivering
A second mechanism is ____ ____ to the skin prevents the blood from cooling too much.
decreased bloodflow
A third mechanism works well for most mammals, though not humans: when cold, they fluff out their fur to increase ____.
insulation
We also use ____ mechanisms, just as poikilothermic animals do. In fact, we prefer to rely behaviour when we can. The more we regulate our temperature behaviourally, the less energy we need to spend physiologically.
behavioural
We ___ a great deal to support our high metabolism so that even when the weather is cold, we can still run as fast and as far as we need to.
eat
If warmer is better, why not heat ourselves to an even ____ ____? First, maintaining a high temperature requires more fuel and energy. Second, and more importantly, beyond about 40° or 41°C, proteins begin to break their bonds and lose their useful properties.
higher temperature
Our body temperature of 37°C is a trade-off between the advantages of high temperature for ____ ____ and the disadvantages of high temperature for ____ ____.
rapid movement : protein stability
Birds lay eggs and sit on them, instead of developing them internally, because the birds ____ ____ is too hot for an embryo.
internal temperature