Exam 40: Basic Principles of Animal Form and Function

Hummingbirds are small birds that require a regular food supply. When hummingbirds are faced with a situation that decreases their food supply, such as a storm, which of the following adaptations would be most useful for the bird to survive such an unpredictable and short-term absence of food resources?

You are studying a large tropical reptile that has a high and relatively stable body temperature. How do you determine whether this animal is an endotherm or an ectotherm?

Much of the coordination of vertebrate body functions via chemical signals is accomplished by the ________.

Both the endocrine and nervous systems transmit information around an animal's body. Which of the following is a characteristic of nervous system signals?

Which of the following is a true statement about body size and physiology?

- The countercurrent arrangement of blood vessels is an adaptation that allows the goose to ________.

The temperature-regulating centre of vertebrate animals is located in the ________.

An example of an ectothermic organism that has few or no behavioural options when it comes to its ability to adjust its body temperature is a ________.

Standard metabolic rate (SMR) and basal metabolic rate (BMR) are ________.

Which of the following would increase the rate of heat exchange between an animal and its environment?

You are studying a large tropical reptile that has a high and relatively stable body temperature. How would you determine whether this animal is an endotherm or an ectotherm?

You discover a new species of bacteria that grows in aquatic environments with high salt levels. While studying these bacteria, you note that their internal environment is similar to the salt concentrations in their surroundings. You also discover that the internal salt concentrations of the bacteria change as the salt concentration in their environment changes. The new species can tolerate small changes in this way, but dies from large changes because it has no mechanism for altering its own internal salt levels. What type of homeostatic mechanism is this species using to regulate its internal salt levels?

In a cool environment, an ectotherm is more likely to survive an extended period of food deprivation than would an equally sized endotherm because the ectotherm ________.

An animal's inputs of energy and materials would exceed its outputs

Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) are born in freshwater environments and then migrate to the sea. Near the end of their lives, they return to the freshwater stream where they were born to spawn. In fresh water, water constantly diffuses into the body and ions are lost from the body. In salt water, body water diffuses out of the body and excess ions are gained from the water. A salmon's gills have special cells to pump salt in or out of the body to maintain homeostasis. In response to the salmon's moves between fresh water and salt water, some cells in the gills are produced and others are destroyed. These changes made in the cells of the gills during the lifetime of an individual salmon are an example of which of the following?

An elephant and a mouse are running in full sunlight, and both overheat by the same amount above their normal body temperatures. When they move into the shade and rest, which animal will cool down faster?

Consider the energy budgets for a human, an elephant, a penguin, a mouse, and a snake. The ________ would have the highest total annual energy expenditure, and the ________ would have the highest energy expenditure per unit mass.

You have a cube of modelling clay in your hands. Which of the following changes to the shape of this cube of clay will decrease its surface area relative to its volume?

The panting responses observed in overheated birds and mammals dissipate excess heat by ________.

The metabolic rate of an animal is most accurately determined by ________.