ZOOL 42034

>< Type/status : Compulsory course for the students who follow special degree programme in Zoology.
>< Title : Comparative Animal Physiology
>< Pre-requisite : ZOOL 21014 and ZOOL 21022
>< Objectives: By the end of the course, the student will be able to understand, describe and critically discuss diversity of physiological process employed by animals at subcellular, cellular and organismal level and their physiological adaptations in relation to the environment.
>< Course contents:

Topics include Cellular energetics: oxidative metabolism, anaerobic metabolic strategies. Animal energetics, Patterns of thermoregulation, thermostatic control of body temperature, Cell movement: microtubular movement, microfilament movement.

Hormonal control: mechanism of hormone action, endocrine systems of selected invertebrates & vertebrates.

Aquatic and aerial respiration: physiological implications, respiratory pigments and gas transport. Nonspecific immune mechanisms of invertebrates and vertebrates, humoral immunity, cellular immunity. Specialized digestive systems, Nutrition, Osmoregulatory patterns in aquatic and terrestrial environments, Excretion and nitrogen metabolism.

>< Methodology: A combination of lectures, seminars, discussions and laboratory exercises on selected topics.
>< Scheme of evaluation: End of semester examination and continuous assessment
>< Recommended reading:
1. Eckert R (1988) Animal Physiology-Mechanisms and Adaptations. W.H. Freeman and Company, New York
2. Withers P.C. (1992) Comparative Animal Physiology. Saunders College Publishing, New Jersey.
3. Schmidt-Nielsen K. (1995) Animal Physiology: Adaptation and Environment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
4. Prosser C.L. (1991) Environmental and Metabolic Animal Physiology. Wiley-Liss Inc., New York.

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