Textbook - Chapter 7: Animal Adaptations

Question 1

Biological clock

Answer 1

The internal mechanism of an organism that controls circadian rhythms iwhtout external time cues

Question 2

Critical temperature

Answer 2

Range of ambient temperature outside the thermoneutral zone in which metabolic rate increases with changes in temperature

Question 3

Critical day length

Answer 3

The period of daylight, specific for any given species that triggers a long-day or a short-day response in organisms

Question 4

Countercurrent heat exchange

Answer 4

An anatomical and physiological arrangement by which heat exchanges takes place between outgoing warm arterial blood and cool venous blood returning to the body core; important in maintaining temperature homeostasis in many vertebrates

Question 5

Carnivore

Answer 5

Organism that feeds on animal tissue; taxonomically, a member of the order Carnivora (Mammalia)

Question 6

Circadian rhythm

Answer 6

Endogenous rhythm of physiological or behaioral activity of approximately 24 hours duration

Question 7

Convection

Answer 7

Transfer of ehat by the circulation of a liquid or gas

Question 8

Conductivity

Answer 8

Ability to exchange heat with the surrounding environment

Question 9

Diapause

Answer 9

A period of dormancy, usually seasonal, in the life cycle of an insect, in which growth and development cease and metabolism greatly decreases

Question 10

Day neutral plant

Answer 10

A plant that does not require any particular photoperiod to flower

Question 11

Detrivore

Answer 11

Organism that feeds on dead organic matter; usually applies to detrius-feding organisms other tahn bacteria and fungi

Question 12

Endothermy

Answer 12

Regulation of body temperature by internal heat production; allows maintenance of appreciable difference between body temperature and external temperature

Question 13

Ectothermy

Answer 13

Determination of body temperature primarily by external thermal conditions

Question 14

Fermentation

Answer 14

Breakdown of carbohydrates and other organic matter under anaerobic conditions

Question 15

Hypoosmotic

Answer 15

Having a lower concentration of salts in the body tissue than does the surrounding water

Question 16

Hyperosmotic

Answer 16

Having a higher concentration of salts in the body tissue than does the surrounding water

Question 17

Homeothermy

Answer 17

Regulation of body temperature by physiological means

Question 18

Homeotherm

Answer 18

Animal with a fairly constant body temperature; also spelled homoiotherm and homotherm

Question 19

Homeostatic plateau

Answer 19

Limited range of maximum and minimum values of physiological tolerances within which an organism operates

Question 20

Homeostasis

Answer 20

Maintenance of a nearly constant internal environment in the midst of a varying external environment; more generally, the tendency of a biological system to maintain itself in a state of stable equilibrium

Question 21

Hibernation

Answer 21

Winter dormancy in animals, characterized by a great decrease in metabolism

Question 22

Heterotherm

Answer 22

An organism that during part of its life history becomes either endothermic or ectothermic; hibernating endotherms become ectothermic; and foraging insects such as bees become endothermic during periods of activity; they are characterized by rapid, drastic, repeated changes in body temperature

Question 23

Herbivore

Answer 23

Organism that feeds on plant tissue

Question 24

Isosmotic

Answer 24

A characteristic describing an organism with body fluids that have the same osmotic pressure as seawater

Question 25

Long-day organism

Answer 25

Plant or animal that requires long days, days with more than a certain minimum of daylight to flower or come into reproductive condition

Question 26

Omnivore

Answer 26

An animal (heterotroph) that feeds on both plant and animal matter

Question 27

Operative temperature range

Answer 27

Range of body temperatures at which poikilotherms carry out daily activity

Question 28

Poikilotherm

Answer 28

An organism whose body temperature varies according to the temperature of its surrounding

Question 29

Poikilothermy

Answer 29

Variation of body temperature with external conditions

Question 30

Rete

Answer 30

A large network or discrete vascular bundle of intermingling small blood vessels carrying arterial and venous blood that acts as a heat exchanger in mammals and certain fish and sharks

Question 31

Scaling

Answer 31

The process by which most morphological and physiological features change as a function of body size in a predictable way

Question 32

Short-day organisms

Answer 32

Plants and animals that come into reproductive codition under conditions of short days, days with less than a certain maximum length

Question 33

Supercooling

Answer 33

In ectotherms, lowering body temperature below freezing without freezing body tissue, by means of solutes

Question 34

Torpor

Answer 34

Temporary great reduction in an animal's respiration, with loss of moton and feeling; reduces energy expenditure in response to some unfavorable environmental condition, such as heat or cold

Question 35

Thermoneutral Zone

Answer 35

Range of environmental temperatures within which the metabolic rates are minimal

Question 36

Thermal conductivity

Answer 36

Ability to conduct or transmit heat