Animal Form

&
Function
• The animal kingdom includes a staggering
number of species with extreme characteristics.
• It may be as a small as unicellular amoeba or as
enormous as a blue whale.While outer
appearances vary,the mechanisms by which all
animals operate is based on common principles.
• Anatomy is the study of an organism’s part
while physiology refers to the functions these
parts perform and its contribution to how an
organisms lives.
• Million’s of years of evolution have tailored and
optimized the structures to fit its corresponding
function,maximizing the chances of survival of
animal species.These adaptation include
providing protection from the external
environment by the integumentary
system,supporting the animal form by skeletal
system,and enabling movement through the
muscular system.
The organs are associated into ORGAN SYSTEMS that serve a
common purpose
integumentary - skin
digestive - processes food
respiratory - takes in oxygen, expells carbon dioxide
circulatory - transports nutrients, dissolved gases, etc.
Muscular - (unique to animals) - movement
nervous (unique to animals) - sensory; coordination of
movement
endocrine - glands of all kinds
reproductive - fulfilling the prime directive
(not all animals have all organ systems, as we'll see)
Adaptations
In
Animal
What is an animal?
• Animals are multicellular,eukaryotic organisms
that feed on plants and or animals to live.
• It is hypothesized that animals evolved from
unicellular organisms which eventually
aggregated into a multicellular form and
adapted features that enabled them to thrived.
• The oldest fossil records of multicellular animals
appeared around 1000 million years ago.
• The sudden appearance of animal
species over just 30 million years called
the Cambrian explosion.The cause of the
abrupt increase in diversity is debatable,
but has been largely attributed to the
increase in atmospheric oxygen levels
and the changes in the ancient ocean’s
chemical composition.
• The Cambrian period lasted for 53 million
years.Animals continued to diversify from the
time on with the appearance of various
invertebrates such as corals and trilobites.
• The emergence of the vertebrate group started
with the appearance of the jawless fishes
followed by the sharks and finned fishes.
• As species in the seas continued to evolve,some
acquired adaptations to migrate and live on land
habitats.
• Arthropods and amphibians were the first
colonizers,while reptiles,birds,and mammals
came later.
• Animal exist in an incredible range in terms of
complexity.
What are the levels of
organization in
organismal complexity?
• Unicellular organisms represent the simplest
eukaryotic group called protozoans that
function at the basic level of organization,the
protoplasmic level.
• Multicellular animals,also known as
metazoans,obtain greater complexity by joining
cells together to form a largest unit.One cell can
no longer survive by itself because it now exists
as part of a whole .
• When similar cells aggregate and perform their
common functions as one unit called a
tissue,the cells exist in a level of organization
called cell-tissue level.
• The next level of organization called tissue-
organ level,where various tissues aggregate into
functional units called organs.One type of tissue
performs the main function of the organ while
other tissue types serve to support the main
tissue.
• When different organs function
together,metazoans are said to exhibit the
highest level of complexity within the organism--
-the organ system level.Organism at this level
typically display eleven different kinds of
organsystems that perform the basic body
function.These are the
skeletal,muscular,integumentary,digestive,respir
atory,circulatory,excretory,nervous,endocrine,im
mune,and the reproductive system.
How are animal
body plans
defined?
1.Body Symmetry-Animal body plans can be
described according to the level of organization and
body symmetry.Symmetry is the balance of
proportions with respect to the size and shape of
the body parts on a dividing plane.There are three
of symmetry:
1. Spherical symmetry
2. Radial symmetry
3. Bilateral symmetry
-Spherical Symmetry:
In this type of symmetry, the body of the
individual can be divided into similar halves
by any plane passing through the centre, e.g.
Volvox, some sponges and some corals.
Volvox
-Radial Symmetry:
In this type of symmetry, the body of
the individual divided into equal halves by
any plane passing through the centre from
top to bottom.
Star Fish
-Bilateral Symmetry:
In this type of symmetry, the body can
be divided into two equal halves by a
single plane only because the
important body organs are paired and
occur on the two sides of a central axis.
Bilateral symmetry is found in many
invertebrates and all vertebrates.
2.Body Cavities-Animals exhibiting bilateral
symmetry share two important characteristics:the
development of tissues from three embrayonic cell
layers—ectoderm,endoderm,and mesoderm;and
how the internal organs are arranged in their
internal body.
• Body cavities are internal fluid-filled spaces that
support and allow transport of materials and
fluids along the length of the body.
• Animals developing from the three embrayonic
layers but lacking a body cavity are called
acoelomates.
• A pseudocoelomate is an animal that has a fluid
a fluid-filled body cavity between the endoderm
and the mesoderm.
• Coelomates have a fluid-filled body cavity
completely lined by mesoderm, a tube within
the body wall
3.Embrayonic Development-Bilaterally
symmetrical coelomates can be further divided into
two groups depending on the sequence of their
embrayonic development.
• If the opening of the grastrula or the blastopore
develops into a mouth first,the animal is referred
to as protostome.
• Deuterostome refers to the development of the
mouth elsewhere,with the blastopore becoming
the animal’s anus instead.
4.Metamerism-metamerism or segmentation,refers
to the serial repetition of body segments that are
similar in structure along the longitudinal axis of the
body.
• A segment is called a metamere or somite.In
species like annelids metamerism is observed
easily due to the external and internal
delineation of segments.