ECO-PHYSIOLOGICAL ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Academic Year 2023/2024 - Teacher: Venera CARDILEExpected Learning Outcomes
The course aims to provide students with notions on the physiological adaptations of animals and humans and on the strategies adopted by living organisms aimed at achieving and maintaining the homeostasis of their internal medium in relation to the environment.
Course Structure
Lectures (6 credits: 42 hours)
Required Prerequisites
Knowledge of Chemistry, Physics, and General Physiology.
Attendance of Lessons
Obligation to attend
Detailed Course Content
Basic mechanisms of adaptation - Environmental factors that determine variations in the physiology of animal organisms - Biological membranes and osmoregulation phenomena - Respiratory pigments and the various ventilation mechanisms - Effects of temperature: adaptations to low temperatures, migrations, extreme habitats , greenhouse effect; anthropogenic problems. Smell, sight, functions and plasticity of the brain in relation to evolution in different living organisms.
Textbook Information
R. Hill, G. Wyse, M. Anderson, Fisiologia animale, Zanichelli;
D. Schimdt-Nielsen, Fisiologia animale, Piccin;
G. Ferretti, C. Capelli, Dagli abissi allo spazio. Ambienti e limiti umani, Edi ermes;
Course Planning
| Subjects | Text References | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to environmental physiology: general characteristics - Biological adaptation and acclimatization: potential and limits - Regulation of gene expression. | D. Schimdt-Nielsen, Fisiologia animale, Piccin |
Learning Assessment
Learning Assessment Procedures
Written test.
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