Introduction
to
Animal Physiology
The following questions
will
help you to review the material from the lecture. The laboratory
manual has a good section on
tissues.
You will need to rely on your notes for the organ systems (or browse
through
the different chapters to extract the function of each system).
- What is a cell? Briefly
describe
an eukaryotic cell?
- Explain the
endosymbiotic theory.
- What are organelles?
What is the
function of these structures within the eukaryotic cell?
- Is there a typical
eukaryotic
cell?
- Briefly describe the
structure
and function of the following: the plasma membrane, the nucleus, the
endoplasmic
reticulum, the Golgi apparatus, the lysosome, the mitochondrion, the
chloroplast,
the flagellum and the cilium.
- What is a tissue? What
is the
difference between cells and tissues?
- The somatic cells of an
organism
are genetically identical. How can these cells form the complex
cellular
arrangements we refer to as tissues?
- Why did evolution favor
the specialization
of cells in multicellular organisms? What is the importance of
having
the
ability to form specialized cells as an organism?
- What are the four major
groups
of tissues in animals?
- Briefly describe
epithelial tissues
in terms of structure, arrangement and function. Give examples of
where
you can expect to find these tissues within the animal body.
- Do the same for the
muscle, nervous
and connective tissues.
- What is an organ? An
organ system?
What is the connection between tissues and organs?
- Why is the "cooperation"
between
different tissues within an organ important?
- In the same manner: why
is the
cooperation between different organ systems an important aspect to
consider
as one attempts to understand the physiology of an organism?
- Explain the basic
physiological
needs of a typical cell (e.g. an amoeba).
- What are the differences
between
unicellular and multicellular organisms in terms of the
physiological
challenges
that need to be solved? What are the challenges? Draw an animal cell
and
describe its physiological needs. Do the same for a group of cells.
- What is the relationship
between
surface area and the volume of an organism?
- What kind of
physiological problems
are increasing in magnitude as a life form's body size increases?
How
are
they solved? (this question ties in directly with the one above).
- What is the importance
of surface
area in the structural design of different organs? (tricky but worth
thinking
about)
- What is the connection
between
the needs of a single animal cell and the functional purpose of
organ
systems
in animals?
- Name the eleven main
organ systems
and briefly describe their function.
- Which physiological
challenge/problem
(or challenges/problems) does each system solve?
- An organism has a
different chemical
composition and physical state compared to its surroundings. How
does
an
organism accomplish this task?
- Explain the concept of
homeostasis.
- The environment around
an organism
is always changing. How is it possible for some organisms to
maintain a
stable internal environment under those conditions?
- Use the maintenance of
body temperature
in a mammal to explain the concept of a set point in homeostasis.
- How do different kinds
of animal
species controll their body temperature? Are there different
strategies?
Give three different examples of how lifeforms controll their
temperature.
- What is the difference
between
a regulator and a conformer? Under what kind of conditions is it
advantageous
to be a regulator? A conformer?
- Under what kind of
conditions
is it disadvantageous to be a regulator? A conformer?
- What is the importance
of homeostasis
in animal physiology?
