General Ecology: Animal Physiology

Abstract

Animal physiology is the study of how animals work and the biological processes essential for animal life, at levels of organisation from membranes to the whole animal. It is closely linked with anatomy and with basic physico-chemical laws that constrain living as well as non-living systems. Despite these constraints, there is a diversity ofmechanisms and processes by which different animals work. The discipline of animalphysiology is underpinned by the concept of homeostasis of the intra- and extra-cellularenvironments, neural and endocrine systems for homeostatic regulation, and the variousphysiological systems including ionic and osmotic balance, excretion, respiration,circulation, metabolism, digestion and temperature.