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Animal Physiology cover

Biology

Biology

Animal Physiology

Richard W. Hill; Daniel Cavanaugh; Margaret Anderson

A comparative textbook of animal physiology that sets the function of organs and systems in ecological and evolutionary context. Hill, Cavanaugh and Anderson follow physiological questions from genes and molecules up to whole organisms across vertebrates and invertebrates, emphasising how animals cope with temperature, water, oxygen and the demands of activity in their environments.

Prerequisites: Introductory biology and chemistry, and a first course in cell biology or physiology.

Difficulty Level
Advanced
Academic Level
Undergraduate
animal physiologycomparative physiologyenvironmental physiologyneurophysiologyevolution

01 / Reading Guide

Reading Guide

Citation

Hill, R. W., Cavanaugh, D. J., & Anderson, M. (2022). Animal Physiology (5th ed.). Sinauer Associates (Oxford University Press).

Chapter Summary

The fifth edition runs to about 900 pages in six parts and thirty chapters, with nine appendices, a glossary and an index. The publisher describes its distinguishing feature as ecological and evolutionary context at every level of organization, from genome and molecules to cells, tissues, organs and organ systems. Each of Parts II to VI ends with an "At Work" chapter that applies the part's material to a single case. A review of the second edition in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine (Montague, 2009) describes the same arrangement, with five such chapters, one after each part. The chapter titles below come from the publisher's contents list, and the descriptions stay close to the titles and to that review.

Part I, Chapters 1–5: Fundamentals of Physiology

Chapter 1, "Animals and Environments: Function on the Ecological Stage", sets the book's premise that an animal's physiology is best understood by asking what its environment demands of it. The next four chapters supply the toolkit: "Molecules and Cells in Animal Physiology", "Genomics, Proteomics, and Related Approaches to Physiology", "Physiological Development and Epigenetics", and "Transport of Solutes and Water".

Part II, Chapters 6–11: Food, Energy, and Temperature

Nutrition, feeding and digestion (Chapter 6) lead to energy metabolism (7), aerobic and anaerobic forms of metabolism (8), the energetics of aerobic activity (9) and thermal relations (10). Chapter 11, the part's integrating chapter, is titled "Food, Energy, and Temperature" and is paired with an At Work case, "The Lives of Mammals in Frigid Places".

Part III, Chapters 12–18: Integrating Systems

Neurons (12), synapses (13), sensory processes (14), nervous system organization and biological clocks (15), endocrine and neuroendocrine physiology (16) and reproduction (17). Chapter 18, "Integrating Systems", is paired with the At Work case "Animal Navigation". The Montague review notes that the same section in the second edition was organised around the nervous, endocrine and reproductive systems.

Part IV, Chapters 19–21: Movement and Muscle

"Control of Movement" (19) and "Muscle" (20), followed by Chapter 21, "Movement and Muscle", which carries the At Work case "Plasticity in Response to Use and Disuse".

Part V, Chapters 22–26: Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, and Internal Transport

An introduction to oxygen and carbon dioxide in physiology (22), external respiration and the physiology of breathing (23), transport of oxygen and carbon dioxide in body fluids with an introduction to acid-base physiology (24), and circulation (25). Chapter 26, "Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, and Internal Transport", is paired with "Diving by Marine Mammals". The review of the second edition singles out the diving case as an example of respiratory adaptation to dives of more than an hour.

Part VI, Chapters 27–30: Water, Salts, and Excretion

Water and salt physiology: introduction and mechanisms (27), water and salt physiology of animals in their environments (28), and kidneys and excretion with notes on nitrogen excretion (29). Chapter 30, "Water, Salts, and Excretion", is paired with "Mammals of Deserts and Dry Savannas".

Appendices

The nine appendices cover units (the Système International), prefixes for orders of magnitude, gases at standard temperature and pressure, logarithms, exponential and allometric equations, phylogenetically independent contrasts, the standard amino acids, basic physics terms and a summary of major bloodborne hormones in mammals.

Key Concepts

Part I

  • Function in ecological context: physiology is explained by the environment an animal lives in, the starting point of Chapter 1.
  • Epigenetics and physiological development: the subject of Chapter 4.
  • Transport of solutes and water: the subject of Chapter 5.

Parts II–III

  • Aerobic and anaerobic metabolism: contrasted in Chapter 8.
  • Thermal relations: how animals deal with temperature, Chapter 10.
  • Neuroendocrine integration: neurons, synapses, sensing, hormones and clocks as parts of one control system (Chapters 12–16).

Parts IV–VI

  • Muscle and the control of movement: Chapters 19–20.
  • Oxygen and carbon dioxide transport with acid-base physiology: Chapter 24.
  • Water and salt balance, and excretion: Chapters 27–29.
  • Allometric equations and phylogenetically independent contrasts: quantitative tools the appendices explain.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

  • Comparative breadth. Montague's review contrasts the book with typical physiology textbooks, which concentrate on humans, by describing principles that underlie all animals and moving between general principles and examples from many species. The fifth edition's contents list, organised by function, keeps that structure.
  • Ecological and evolutionary framing. The publisher presents the integration of ecology and evolution with molecular and cellular physiology as what sets the book apart from narrower texts, and Chapter 1 and the At Work chapters make this concrete.
  • Case chapters. The five At Work chapters (cold-climate mammals, animal navigation, plasticity of muscle, marine mammal diving, desert mammals) end each part with a detailed example, which the review treats as a way of placing the concepts in a larger context.
  • Study support. The review of the second edition mentions a short list of references at the end of each chapter, summaries after sections and study questions. The publisher offers an enhanced e-book with self-assessment quizzes, flashcards and animated figures, of which Chapters 7, 14 and 23 are available as samples.

Limitations

  • Length. At about 900 pages, it is larger than a one-semester course can absorb; instructors and students must choose among the six parts.
  • Material from a review of an earlier edition. The detailed description of chapter openers, section summaries and study questions comes from the review of the second edition; the fifth edition has a different set of authors and a chapter list that includes topics, such as genomics and epigenetics, not mentioned in that review, so those details should be checked against the book.
  • Human physiology is a secondary theme. A student preparing for a human-focused course will find the comparative approach valuable but should not expect the book to follow a human organ-system sequence.

Where It Fits in the Course

The other books in this course are mostly human-centred. Anatomy and Physiology 2e is a free, system-by-system text for a two-semester human sequence; Ross and Wilson's Anatomy and Physiology in Health and Illness is a compact, illustrated introduction that pairs normal function with common disorders; Silverthorn's Human Physiology: An Integrated Approach builds each system on recurring themes and a running problem; Boron and Boulpaep's Medical Physiology is a comprehensive treatment from molecules to organ systems. Taiz and colleagues' Plant Physiology and Development is the plant counterpart.

Hill, Cavanaugh and Anderson is the animal counterpart: it explains why the physiology of one species differs from another's, which the human-centred texts do not set out to do. It is best read after a human physiology or anatomy course, or alongside Silverthorn when the goal is a comparative perspective, and before Boron and Boulpaep if the reader intends to specialise in ecological or evolutionary physiology.

How to Use This Book

The book is for upper-level undergraduates in biology, zoology, ecology or related fields who have completed introductory biology and chemistry and ideally a first course in cell biology or physiology, as the frontmatter states.

A practical plan:

  • Core: Chapter 1 and Chapter 5, which set the ecological premise and the transport principles; then one or two parts that match a course (Part II on energy and temperature is the most self-contained).
  • Systems: Parts III to VI can be taken in any order; within each part read the final At Work chapter last, since it reuses the part's material.
  • Optional: Chapters 3 and 4 on genomics, proteomics and epigenetics can be left for a second pass in a course that is mainly about organ systems; the appendices on allometry and phylogenetically independent contrasts matter when comparing species quantitatively.
  • Practice: Use the chapter study questions, and the self-assessment quizzes if the enhanced e-book is available.