Comparative and Environmental Animal Physiology
Code: 100834 ECTS Credits: 10| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500251 Environmental Biology | OB | 2 | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Juan Carlos Balasch Alemany
- Email:
- joancarles.balasch@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject. Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2023.
Teachers
- Lluis Tort
- Mariana Teles Pereira
- Juan Carlos Balasch Alemany
Prerequisites
It is recommended to review topics about animal diversity (zoology) and general concepts such as ecology, evolution and cell biology.
Objectives and Contextualisation
In this subject, the introduction to the study of the morphological diversity of the various animal groups, is complemented with the description and analysis of comparative physiology in vertebrates and invertebrates. It is intended that the student be able to place each animal group in an ecophysiological context, evaluating it in relation to different aspects such as: the number of species, habitat, life cycle, adaptation to the environment, position within the ecosystems and finally their importance in relation to their particular interest in applied sciences and economic interest.
Targets:
(1) Acquire the formal knowledge in animal physiology, which include:
(I) The general concepts of adaptation, acclimatization and evolution,
(II) The concepts and foundations of physiological analysis (homeostasis of perception, integration and response; feedback, amplification and control mechanisms)
(III) The general description of the main integrative systems (nervous, immune and endocrine systems) including their interactions
(2) Apply the formal knowledge in animal physiology to ecological and symbiotic relationships among several species:
(I) The physiology of thermoregulation and osmoregulation.
(II) Differential adaptations between the aquatic and terrestrial environments (respiration, circulation, osmoregulation).
(III) The physiology of reproduction.
(IV) The physiology of symbiotic interactions in the digestive system.
(V) The evolutionary physiology of the immune relationships between host and parasite.
(3) Be able to diagnose the advantages and problems of the physiological adaptations in the environment. That is why the necessary materials and knowledge are provided to evaluate the physiological adaptations of a specific species in an environment with
specific biotic and abiotic conditions.
Competences
- Carry out functional tests and determine, assess and interpret vital parameters.
- Communicate efficiently, orally and in writing.
- Describe, analyse and interpret the vital adaptations and strategies of the principal groups of living beings.
- Integrate knowledge of different organisational levels of organisms in their functioning.
- Manage information
- Reason critically.
- Recognise and interpret the development, growth and biological cycles of the principal groups of living beings.
- Solve problems.
- Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
- Understand the bases of regulation of vital functions of organisms through internal and external factors, and identify environmental adaptation mechanisms.
Learning Outcomes
- Actuar en l'àmbit de coneixement propi avaluant les desigualtats per raó de sexe/gènere.
- Apply tests and indexes to assess the functioning and development of animals.
- Communicate efficiently, orally and in writing.
- Interpret animals' mechanisms of adaptation to the medium.
- Interpret the origin and functioning of organic structures in the different groups of animals.
- Interpret the physiological processes that regulate animals' growth and reproduction.
- Manage information
- Reason critically.
- Recognise and interpret the different phases in the biological cycles of all animal groups.
- Recognise the characteristics of the environment that determine the distribution of the principal animal groups.
- Solve problems.
Content
MASTER CLASS MODULES
MODULE I: Foundations of comparative physiology
Ecophysiological adaptation: key concepts. Proximate and ultimate explanations, adaptation, adaptation and acclimatization. Feedback, homeostasis, alostasis and allostatic load. Coping strategies: proaction and reaction; conformists, regulators and avoiders; eurioics and estenoics. Reaction norms and phenotypic plasticity. Advantages and problems of physiological models: sex-based differences in physiological studies.
Regulation of physiological systems: the physiology of processes of perception, integration and response in the nervous system. Evolutionary trends in the emergence and complexity of nervous systems: tropisms, neural networks, bilateral nerve systems, encephalisation. Summary of the vertebrate brain. Characteristics of the synapses, action potential and transmission of the nervous signal. General characteristics of sensory systems, synaptic plasticity and multisensory integration, cortical representation and interpretation. The axes of emotions, stress and reticular activation. Memory formation: synaptic plasticity and long-term potentiation.
Case study. Evolutionary ecophysiology of echolocation.
MODULE II: the imprint of the environment
Thermal regulation
Physiological regulation of body temperature in the human species. Mechanisms of heat exchange. Central and peripheral receptors, feedback. Factors influencing the control of basal metabolic rate. Fever and sweat. Homeotherms and poikilotherms. Endotherms and ectotherms. Taquimetabolic and bradimetabolic organisms. Temporary and regional heterotherms. Thermal inertia and body size. Thermal ecophysiology in the deserts: thermal regulation and water balance. Thermal ecophysiology in polar environments: hibernation and freezing.
Case study (I). Aestivation and the ontogenic plasticity in desert toads.
Case study (II). Evolutionary ecophysiology of polar fish.
Respiration-circulation coupling
General characteristics and regulation of the cardiovascular and respiratory physiology. Gas exchange. Factors influencing the changes in hemoglobin. Respiration and acid-base balance. Respiratory height adaptations. Respiratory transitions: from aquatic to terrestrial environment. The diversity of respiratory pigments. Gastrovascular circulatory systems, open and closed. Ecophysiology of external (skin and gills) and internal (air sacs and lungs) respiratory surfaces: (i) countercurrent flow in fish; (ii) skin respiration in the amphibians, (iii) respiratory adaptations in the reptiles, (iv) respiration in estuarine invertebrates, (v) efficiency and physiological regulation of the tracheal system of insects.
Case study (I). Respiratory ecophysiology of respiration in lungfish.
Case study (II). Evolutionary ecophysiology of respiration in birds.
The management of water and waste
Osmoregulation and metabolism of nitrogen in terrestrial animals. Physiological anatomy of the renal function. Mechanisms and regulation of urine concentration. Homeostasis of plasma concentration, blood volume, sodium levels and acid-base balance. Strategies of nitrogenous waste management: ammonotelism, ureotelism and uricotelism. Secretors vs. filterers. Physiological anatomy of osmoregulation and excretion in terrestrial insects: uricotelism, regulation of water and osmolites in the Malpighian tubules. The management of large volumes of water in hematophage insects and saponers. Primitive filtration systems in terrestrial invertebrates: flame cells and nephridia. Adaptative specializations of insects in dry environments: cryptonephric systems and hyperconcentrators.
Osmoregulation and metabolism of nitrogen in aquatic animals. Osmoconformists strategies in marine invertebrates. Adaptive ecophysiology of osmoregulation and management of metabolic waste in fish: iono-osmoconformers and regulators. Physiological gill models, kidney and gut in ionic and water transport in marine and freshwater fish. Saline glands and rectal reabsorption in birds and marine reptiles.
Case study. Evolutionary ecophysiology of smoltification in migrating salmons.
The trophic conflict
Digestive processes. Physiological anatomy of the digestive function. The perception of taste. The regulation and control of the digestion, secretion, absorption and motility in the digestive system. Where and how are fats, proteins and carbohydrates digested? The human Intestinal biota: characteristics of the symbiotic intestinal communities, structural, digestive, metabolic and immune functions. The brain-gut axis: Communication and bidirectional homeostasis between the intestine and the brain in situations of stress, pain and altered behaviors.
Adaptive solutions to the environmental constraints: compartmentalization, functional and morphological specializations of the digestive tract, reservoirs, extracorporeal digestion, agastria. Insect digestion: functional structure of the digestive tube, peritrophic matrix and fat bodies; digestive symbiosis of xylophagous insects and saba suckers. Energy efficiency and physiology of digestion in birds.
Case study. Digestive evolutionary ecophysiology of large herbivores.
The interaction with pathogens
Characteristics of innate and adaptive immunity in vertebrates. Mechanisms of cellular and humoral immunity. Inflammation, cell maturation, reactivity and cellular recirculation. Immune synapsis and antigen presentation: PAMPs and PRRs.
Case study. Evolutionary ecophysiology of hematophagous insects.
Reproduction
Physiology of reproduction. Hormonal control and cycles. Factors influencing the reproductive strategies of animals. Sexual selection,biological cycles, photoperiods, semelparity vs. iteroparity, nutritional environment, induced ovulation, social structure, sequential hermaphroditism. Pheromones: reproductive synchrony, influence of the vomeronasal organ in the sexual behavior of vertebrates. Evolutionary ecophysiology of milk production.
Case study. Ecophysiology of mammalian diapause.
LABORATORY PRACTICES
To be able to attend it, it is necessary for the student to justify having passed the biosafety and security tests that you will find in the Virtual Campus, to know and accept the operation rules of the laboratories of the Faculty of Biosciences.
P1. Comparative hematology of vertebrates.
P2. Cardiorespiratory adaptations to exercise.
P3. Assessment of the immersion reflex in humans.
P4a AND B. Elaboration of an experimental design based on behavioral patterns and responses to temperature changes in fish
SEMINARS
(1) Analysis of the physiology and biology of the conservation of one particular species in relation to its habitual and / or artificial environment.
(2) Reasoned evaluation of a scientific article related to animal physiology.
Methodology
The methodology used in this subject to achieve the learning process is based on stimulating the students for working on the information that is provided. The function of the Professor is to give them the information or tell them where they can get it and help tutor them, so that the learning process can be carried out effectively. To achieve this goal, the subject is based on the following activities*:
Master classes:
With these classes the student acquires the basic scientific and technical knowledge of the subject that must be complemented with the personal study of the topics explained.
Seminars:
The mission of the seminars is to promote the capacity for analysis and synthesis, the critical reasoning, and the ability to solve problems. Seminars work on the scientific-technical knowledge previously exposed in the master classes to complete their comprehension and deepen in them, developing various activities: analysis and discussion of cases and articles published in the field of physiology, oral and written assessment of physiological adaptations to specific environments, resolution of questions related to the specific subjects and research and analysis of ecophysiological information.
Laboratory practices:
The objective of the practical classes is to complete and reinforce, through controlled experimentation in the laboratory, the physiological knowledge acquired in the theoretical classes and seminars, following a specific guideline. In practical sessions empirical skills such as the ability for observation will be stimulated and developed by the student, together with the analysis and evaluation of problems in the usual physiological experimentation. To be able to attend the practicals, it is necessary for the student to justify having passed the biosafety andsecurity tests that can be find in the Virtual Campus and also to know and accept the rules of operation of the Faculty of Biosciences laboratories.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Seminars | 10 | 0.4 | 2, 3, 7, 4, 6, 9, 5, 8, 10, 11 |
| Theory | 57 | 2.28 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 5, 8, 10, 11 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Laboratory | 20 | 0.8 | 2, 3, 7, 9, 11 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Study | 120 | 4.8 | 2, 3, 7, 4, 6, 9, 5, 8, 10, 11 |
| Work preparation, solving questions | 32 | 1.28 | 2, 3, 7, 4, 6, 9, 5, 8, 10, 11 |
Assessment
The evaluation consists of 3 tests to assess the knowledge obtained by the student in the subject, as well as its capacity for analysis, synthesis and critical reasoning:
(1) Theoretical contents, individual assessment (50% of the final grade): there will be 2 written partial exams, compulsory and eliminatory of matter. The minimum grade to pass each partial exam is 5. Students who do not pass one of the two partial examinations will be able to retrieve them to the final exam To pass the final exam the grade must be equal to or greater than 5.
(2) Seminars (35% of the final grade): group report on (a) the physiological adaptations to the environment in a specific organism (20% of the final grade), and (b)the critical and reasoned analysis of a scientific article published in the field of ecophysiology. (15% of the final grade).
(3) Laboratory practices (15% of the final grade): group report. To be able to attend it, it is necessary for the student to justify having passed the biosafety and security tests that can be find in the Virtual Campus and to know and accept the rules of operation of the laboratories of the Faculty of Biosciences.
To pass the course the student must have passed the individual exam and the final global grade be equal to or greater than 5.
To participate in the recuperation, the students must have been previously evaluated in a set of activities whose weight equals to a minimum of two thirds of the total grade of the subject or module. Therefore, the students will obtain the qualification of "No Valuable "when the assessment activities carried out have a weighting of less than 67% in the final qualification. It will be considered that a student will obtain the qualification of Non-Valuable if the valuation of all assessment activities performed do not allow to achieve the overall rating of 5 in the assumption that the student had obtained the highest note in all of them. If forjustified reasons (paid work, illness, etc.) the students can not attend any of the tests and / or evaluation seminars, they can retrieve the tests by doing them another day (in the case of the individual examination) or a written work of equivalent evaluation based on a subject matter that will be discussed with the teaching staff.
Single evaluation
(1) Theoretical contents, individual assessment (50% of the final grade): there will be 1 written exam on the day of the 2nd partial exam, compulsory and encompassing all the theoretical contents. The minimum grade to pass the exam is 5. Students who do not pass the exam will be able to test their knowledge of the theoretical contents again in the final exam. To pass the final exam the grade must be equal to or greater than 5.
(2) Seminars (35% of the final grade, attendance is optional): group report on (a) the physiological adaptations to the environment in a specific organism (20% of the final grade), and (b)the critical and reasoned analysis of a scientific article published in the field of ecophysiology. (15% of the final grade).
(3) Laboratory practices (15% of the final grade, attendance is mandatory): group report. To be able to attend it, it is necessary for the student to justify having passed the biosafety and security tests that can be find in the Virtual Campus and to know and accept the rules of operation of the laboratories of the Faculty of Biosciences.
To pass the course the student must have passed the individual exam and the final global grade be equal to or greater than 5.
To participate in the recuperation, the students must have been previously evaluated in a set of activities whose weight equals to a minimum of two thirds of the total grade of the subject or module. Therefore, the students will obtain the qualification of "No Valuable "when the assessment activities carried out have a weighting of less than 67% in the final qualification. It will be considered that a student will obtain the qualification of Non-Valuable if the valuation of all assessment activities performed do not allow to achieve the overall rating of 5 in the assumption that the student had obtained the highest note in all of them. If for justified reasons (paid work, illness, etc.) the students can not attend any of the tests and / or evaluation practices, they can retrieve the tests by doing them another day (in the case of the individual examination) or a written work of equivalent evaluation based on a subject matter that will be discussed with the teaching staff.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dossier submission | 35% | 1 | 0.04 | 2, 3, 7, 4, 6, 9, 5, 8, 10, 11 |
| First exam (individual) | 25% | 3 | 0.12 | 1, 2, 3, 7, 4, 6, 9, 5, 8, 10, 11 |
| Lab sessions | 15% | 4 | 0.16 | 2, 3, 7, 8 |
| Second exam (individual) | 25% | 3 | 0.12 | 1, 2, 3, 7, 4, 6, 9, 5, 8, 10, 11 |
Bibliography
Essential references of general, comparative and environmental physiology.
- Fox, S.I. Fisiología humana. Mcgraw-hill interamericana. (e-book)
- Hill, R.W. i Wyse, G.A. Animal Physiology. Sinauer.
- Moyes, C.D., i Schulte, P.M. Principios de fisiología animal. Pearson. (e-book)
- Willmer, P., Stone, G, i Johnston, I. Environmental physiology of animals. Blackwell. (e-book)
Supplementary references
- Carlson, Neil A. Fisiologia de la conducta. Pearson. (e-book)
- Cooper, E.L. Advances in Comparative Immunology. Springer. (e-book)
- García Sacristán, A. Fisiología veterinaria. Editorial Tébar. (e-book)
- Hickman, C.P. et al. Principios integrales de zoologia, McGraw-Hill. (e-book)
- Kandel, E.R. et al. Principles of neural science. McGraw-Hill. (e-book)
- Losos, J. The Princeton Guide to Evolution. Princeton University Press. (e-book)
- Murphy, K. Immunobiología de Janeway. McGraw-Hill. (e-book)
- Scanes, C. Sturkie's Avian Physiology. Academic Press. (e-book)
PubMed, browser for papers in physiology and biomedicine: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez
Software
No specialized software packages are required