Animal Physiology: From Genes to Organisms (with InfoTrac)

Intended for students in the biological and agricultural sciences, ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY has been written to promote the true conceptual understanding necessary to keep pace with today's rapid advances in the biological sciences. ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY takes an "integrative systems" approach, designed to illustrate the individual organization as well as the collective interdependence of each complete physiological system. The text begins with chapters on integrative principles and on the genomic, molecular, and cellular basis of physiology, then proceeds to chapters on individual organ systems. For each organ system, evolutionary forces as well as current cellular and molecular research are discussed. To clearly illustrate system interdependence-how integrated organ systems yield a whole, functioning animal-each systems chapter contains a summary, titled "Chapter in Perspective: Homeostasis and Integration." In addition, special integrative chapters-"Fluid and Acid-Base Balance" and "Energy Balance and Thermal Physiology"-focus on crucial whole-body phenomena that are dependent on more than one organ system. To make the text even more accessible to students, the authors also incorporate a comparative approach to animal physiology-examining the basic physiology of many vertebrate and invertebrate animals as well as their primary diseases and ability to respond to environmental changes. These comparisons between types of animals are included to explain important universal functions and principles, thus emphasizing the unity of life. Unique or striking adaptations are featured to reveal the diversity that can result from evolutionary adaptation. Finally, the authors incorporate detailed coverage of those animal species, particularly vertebrates, which will be of relevance to students preparing for animal-related careers.