Part Three III › Division III III › Section 333 333

Coordination of Vital Processes: Regulation and Integration

Subject Outline

AMaintenance of steady states in biological systems: homeostasis
- 1The nature of homeostatic systems
- 2Homeostatic processes
- 3Homeostatic control hierarchies: homeostatic subsystems that serve either organisms or natural communities
- 4Origin and evolution of homeostasis
- 5Individual adjustments to gradual changes in the physical environment: acclimatization
- 6Inactive states accompanied by a lower than normal rate of metabolism: dormancy
BInformation reception and processing: sensory reception
- 1Classification of sensory systems
  - aAccording to location of receptors: exteroceptors, interoceptors
  - bAccording to type of stimulus: photoreceptors, thermoreceptors, chemoreceptors, mechanoreceptors, electroreceptors, sound receptors
- 2Evolution of sensory systems: specialized organs and information-processing structures
- 3Sensory information: interactions between adjacent sense cells and sensory neurons
CEndocrine systems in animals
- 1General features of hormonal coordination: the relationships between endocrine and neural regulation
- 2Vertebrate endocrine systems
  - aRelationships of endocrine glands to each other and to the blood
  - bStructure and function
- 3Invertebrate endocrine systems: insects, crustaceans, annelid worms
- 4Comparative, adaptive, and evolutionary aspects of endocrine systems: the neurosecretory cell, hypothalamus-pituitary control systems
- 5The human endocrine system [see 421.E.]
DNervous systems in animals
- 1Comparison of chemical and nervous regulation: control mechanisms located between the stimulus and the response
- 2Nervous coordination
  - aIntracellular coordination: general cytoplasmic responsiveness, or irritability, to a stimulus
  - bOrganelle systems: the channeling of responsiveness at the subcellular level within more complex protozoans
  - cNervous systems: the channeling of responsiveness at the cellular level within multicellular organisms
    - iThe neuron, or nerve cell
    - iiThe transmission of the nerve impulse and the synapse [see 323.C.]
- 3Invertebrate nervous systems
  - aTheories of the evolutionary origin of the nervous system
  - bDiffuse nervous systems
  - cCentralized nervous systems
- 4Vertebrate nervous systems
  - aThe central nervous system: the brain and its components; the spinal cord; the brain coverings (meninges), cavities, cerebrospinal fluid, and neuroglia (nonnervous tissue)
  - bThe peripheral nervous system
  - cEmbryonic development of the vertebrate nervous system
  - dEvolution of the vertebrate nervous system
  - eBiodynamics of the vertebrate nervous system
- 5The human nervous system [see 421.J.]
EThe biological clock: periodicity
- 1Rhythms without apparent external correlates: brain waves, breathing, heartbeat
- 2Rhythms correlated with natural geophysical cycles: solar-day rhythms, lunar-tidal rhythms, monthly rhythms, annual or seasonal rhythms, epochal rhythms
- 3The mechanism of the biological clock
- 4Factors affecting biological periodicities