Regulation to Body Temperature

• The hypothalamus is the main control center for body temperature regulation.
• Thermoreceptors are located throughout the body, including the skin, muscles, and internal organs.
• Heat will always travel from a region of higher temperature into a region of lower temperature
• Hypothalamus


  It acts as your body's smart control coordinating centre. Its main function is to keep your body in a stable state called homeostasis. It influences nerve systems and hormones
• Conduction


  • The transfer of heat through physical contact with another object

  
• Convection


  • The transfer of heat by the movement of a liquid or gas between areas of different temperatures

  
• Evaporation


  • The loss of heat via the conversion of water from a liquid to a gas
• Radiation


  • The transfer of heat via electromagnetic waves (e.g. sun)

  
• Regulating Body Temperature - Negative Feedback Loop

  1. Hypothalamus has thermoreceptors

  2. Receptor -> Control Centre -> Effector

  
• Negative Feedback Example: Thermometer -> Thermostat -> A/C turns on
• Homeothermy


  The maintenance of body temperature within narrow limits by physiological mechanisms despite changing external temperatures
• Average Temperature: 36.7C
• The hypothalamus measures your body temperature with a set point of 36C constantly

  
• Homeotherapy- Ends up resulting in the opposite direction to the original stimulus (fluctuate)
• Physiological Adaptation


  • The functions of organs of the body can facilitate homeothermy when body temperature is too high or low
• Behavioural Adaptation


  • To do with how organisms interact or respond to their physical environment. (Eg bats huddling to keep warm)
• Structural Adaptation


  • The way the body of organisms are structures to preserve heat or stay cold
• Sometimes adaptations may be a combination of structure and physiology
• Poikilothermy


  Reptiles regulating their body temp without being in narrow limits. An animal that regulates its body temperature using structural adaptations and behaviours alone