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Origins of heat and cold adaptations can be explained by climatic adaptation. [16] [17] Ambient air temperature affects how much energy investment the human body must make. The temperature that requires the least amount of energy investment is 21 °C (70 °F). [5] [disputed – discuss] The body controls its temperature through the hypothalamus.
In cell biology and pathophysiology, cellular adaptation refers to changes made by a cell in response to adverse or varying environmental changes. The adaptation may be physiologic (normal) or pathologic (abnormal). Morphological adaptations observed at the cellular level include atrophy, hypertrophy, hyperplasia, and metaplasia. [1]
Physiological adaptations permit the organism to perform special functions such as making venom, secreting slime, and phototropism, but also involve more general functions such as growth and development, temperature regulation, ionic balance and other aspects of homeostasis. Adaptation affects all aspects of the life of an organism.
This adaptation means irreversible, long-term physiological responses to high-altitude environments associated with heritable behavioral and genetic changes. While the rest of the human population would suffer serious health consequences at high altitudes, the indigenous inhabitants of these regions thrive in the highest parts of the world.
The bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) is an iconic high-flyer that surmounts the Himalayas during migration, [74] and serves as a model system for derived physiological adaptations for high-altitude flight. Rüppell's vultures, whooper swans, alpine chough, and common cranes all have flown more than 8 km (26,000 ft) above sea level.
Phenotypic plasticity refers to some of the changes in an organism's behavior, morphology and physiology in response to a unique environment. [1] [2] Fundamental to the way in which organisms cope with environmental variation, phenotypic plasticity encompasses all types of environmentally induced changes (e.g. morphological, physiological, behavioural, phenological) that may or may not be ...
Comparative physiologists often study organisms that live in "extreme" environments (e.g., deserts) because they expect to find especially clear examples of evolutionary adaptation. [4] One example is the study of water balance in desert-inhabiting mammals, which have been found to exhibit kidney specializations.
Neural adaptation or sensory adaptation is a gradual decrease over time in the responsiveness of the sensory system to a constant stimulus. It is usually experienced as a change in the stimulus. For example, if a hand is rested on a table, the table's surface is immediately felt against the skin.