Module Specification
The information contained in this module specification was correct at the time of publication but may be subject to change, either during the session because of unforeseen circumstances, or following review of the module at the end of the session. Queries about the module should be directed to the member of staff with responsibility for the module.
Title Comparative Animal Physiology
Code LIFE212
Coordinator Dr SU Voelkel
School of Life Sciences
Svoelkel@liverpool.ac.uk
Year CATS Level Semester CATS Value
Session 2016-17 Level 5 FHEQ Second Semester 15

Pre-requisites before taking this module (other modules and/or general educational/academic requirements):
None 

Modules for which this module is a pre-requisite:
LIFE339 

Co-requisite modules:
 

Linked Modules:
 

Teaching Schedule
  Lectures Seminars Tutorials Lab Practicals Fieldwork Placement Other TOTAL
Study Hours 24
Lectures will introduce key concepts
6
Interactive seminars
        30
Timetable (if known)   This refers to timetabled seminars that provide opportunities for students to raise specific or more general issues to cover any areas of ambiguity and to engage in discussions. This also includes 1-2
  		         
Private Study 120
TOTAL HOURS 150

Assessment
EXAM Duration Timing
(Semester)		 % of
final
mark		 Resit/resubmission
opportunity		 Penalty for late
submission		 Notes
Unseen Written Exam  1.5 hours  Semester 2  75  Yes    Exam 
CONTINUOUS Duration Timing
(Semester)		 % of
final
mark		 Resit/resubmission
opportunity		 Penalty for late
submission		 Notes
Coursework  appr. 6 hrs  Semester 2  25  Yes    Online tests Notes (applying to all assessments) Assessment 1 will be short answer questions. Assessment 2 consists of 5 online test that will be objective assessments such as multiple choice and extended matching questions. 

Aims

  1. To introduce students to the physiological problems encountered by animals in their natural environments;

  2. To encourage students to relate lifestyle and physiology to habitat and to potentially hostile environments;

  3. To explain how increasing c omplexity of bodily organisation can lead to greater levels of bodily homeostasis;

  4. To develop in students an understanding of physiological mechanisms at all levels of organisation, in relation to energetics, temperature, respiration, osmoregulation, and nitrogen excretion. 

Learning Outcomes

To apply the general principles underlying physiological adaptation

To analyze relationships between animal lifestyle, increasing complexity of bodily organisation and ability to maintain homeostasis
To identify the physiological mechanisms operating at all levels of organisation in relation to the control of temperature, oxygen, osmoregulation, energetics, and nitrogen excretion

Teaching and Learning Strategies

Lecture - Lectures will introduce key concepts

Seminar - Interactive seminars

This refers to timetabled seminars that provide opportunities for students to raise specific or more general issues to cover any areas of ambiguity and to engage in discussions. This also includes 1-2 sessions to go through a mock exam paper.

Syllabus
1 

Topic 1: Introduction

·       What is comparative physiology? Conceptual background to adaptive responses (conformity, regulation, homeostasis).
 
  Topic 2: En ergy metabolism and exercise
·       Aerobic and anaerobic energy metabolism, measurement of metabolic rate, basal and standard metabolic rate.
·       Metabolic rate and body size in different animal groups. Energy costs of transport, swimming, flying and walking; the cost of living.
·       Muscle contraction in vertebrates and invertebrates, muscle energetics, exercise.
 
Topic 3: Thermal relations
·       The thermal environment. Temperature effects on animals. Heat exchange and heat balance.
·       Endotherms, ectotherms, heterotherms. Rate compensations and cellular mechanisms. Thermal tolerance. Freezing avoidance and freeze tolerance.
·        Thermoregulation and endothermy in lower vertebrate and invertebrates.
·       Endothermic thermoregulation in mammals and birds. Brain temperature regulation. Heterothermy.
 
Topic 5: Osmoregulation
·       Transmembrane movements of solutes and water. Osmosis. Cell volume regulation. Epithelial transport.
·       Body fluids and osmotic exchange. The aquatic environment. Osmoregulation in freshwater animals.
·       Osmoregulation in salt water animals. Marine, hypersaline and brackish water environments.
·       Water balance in terrestrial animals. Interrelationship with temperature regulation. Metabolic water.
 
Topic 6: Nitrogen excretion
·       Nitrogen excretion, types of excretory products and use in relation to environmental water, urine formation in invertebrates
·       The mammalian kidney. Urine formation in amphibians and other vertebrates.
 
Topic 7: Integrating water balance and thermoregulation
·       Desert mammals
 
Topic 8: Respiration
·       General principles of gas exchange. Fick’s diffusion equation. Nee d for circulatory systems in multicellular animals.
·       Respiration in air and water. Respiratory systems of aquatic animals. Gills - suction/pressure pumps.
·       Respiratory systems in air-breathing animals. Lungs - surface-tension problems. Insect respiration.
·       Respiratory pigments. Haemoglobins, oxygen equilibration curves. P50, organic phosphate modulators, Bohr and Root effects.
·       CO2 transport and excretion, carbonic anhydrase, pH regulation, Halda ne effect. 
 
Topic 9: Circulation
·       Hearts, blood pressure, circulation in mammals, birds and fish. Exercise. Circulation in insects.
 
Topic 10: Life at high altitude
 
Topic 11: Buoyancy

Recommended Texts
Reading lists are managed at readinglists.liverpool.ac.uk. Click here to access the reading lists for this module.
Explanation of Reading List: