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A poikilotherm (/ ˈ p ɔɪ k ə l ə ˌ θ ɜːr m, p ɔɪ ˈ k ɪ l ə ˌ θ ɜːr m /) is an animal (Greek poikilos – 'various', 'spotted', and therme – 'heat') whose internal temperature varies considerably. Poikilotherms have to survive and adapt to environmental stress. [1]
A xerocole (from Greek xēros / ˈ z ɪ r oʊ s / 'dry' and Latin col(ere) 'to inhabit'), [2] [3] [4] is a general term referring to any animal that is adapted to live in a desert. The main challenges xerocoles must overcome are lack of water and excessive heat. To conserve water they avoid evaporation and concentrate excretions (i.e. urine and ...
Tardigrades live over the entire world, including the high Himalayas. [4] Tardigrades are also able to survive temperatures of close to absolute zero (−273 °C or −459 °F), [5] temperatures as high as 151 °C (304 °F), radiation that would kill other animals, [6] and almost a decade without water. [7]
Copepods are the most abundant metazoans on Earth [51] and show impressive short-term adaptation to environmental stressors, e.g. downregulation of the cellular heat stress response. [52]
There are two main types of stresses that can be experienced due to extreme environmental temperatures: heat stress and cold stress. Heat stress is physiologically combated in four ways: radiation, conduction, convection, and evaporation. Cold stress is physiologically combated by shivering, accumulation of body fat, circulatory adaptations ...
Ways that animals can control their body temperature include generating heat through daily activity and cooling down through prolonged inactivity at night. Because this cannot be done by marine animals, they have adapted to have traits such as a small surface-area-to-volume ratio to minimize heat transfer with their environment and the creation ...
The primary physiological and biochemical concerns for an aestivating animal are to conserve energy, retain water in the body, ration the use of stored energy, handle the nitrogenous end products, and stabilize bodily organs, cells, and macromolecules. This can be quite a task as hot temperatures and arid conditions may last for months, in some ...
[20]: 587 This lack of ossification is an adaptation to save energy when food is scarce. [26] Most of the animals that live in the bathyal zone are invertebrates such as sea sponges, cephalopods, and echinoderms. With the exception of very deep areas of the ocean, the bathyal zone usually reaches the benthic zone on the seafloor. [24]