Homeostasis

Homeostasis

1. “the tendency for living things to attempt to maintain a state of relative stability. At either a whole-animal level or at a cellular level” Frandson et al. (2006)

2. Allows mammal’s freedom to conduct their lives regardless of outside conditions = Behavioural Freedom

   • Thermoregulation, osmoregulation, excretion, maintaining blood glucose levels, blood pressure, pH etc…. = Healthy functioning
     • An individual’s ability to survive for long enough to produce ancestors = Evolutionary & ecological success (fitness)
       • Animal can survive long enough to perhaps change its behaviour and find a more suitable environmen = Physiological flexibility

3. Negative feedback mechanism – inhibits the original effect of the stimulus (change in the opposite direction)

4. Homeostasis is the regulation of conditions in the body such as temperature, water content and carbon dioxide levels. Diabetes is a condition where the body cannot regulate its blood glucose levels.

Images and files in the map