EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL STIMULI

reflect
Think for a moment about activities that require
balance. Riding a bicycle and walking across a
balance beam require great balance. So do most
daily activities like bending over to pick up a book or
stepping into the shower. If a person loses balance,
he or she can fall off the bicycle or balance beam.
The result can be disastrous.

Maintaining balance in order to prevent injuries

refers to a specific function of the body that is
maintained by the nervous system. But the human
body as a whole must maintain internal balance as well. If this balance is not maintained
within certain limits, disease or death is possible. How does the body maintain internal
balance? What sort of information does the body rely on?

Homeostasis
Homeostasis is the tendency of an organism to maintain a balanced state in order to
maintain health and functioning. Many body functions work to maintain homeostasis. For
example, the human body is most comfortable around 98.6 °F. When the body becomes
too cold, the muscles shake, or “shiver.” Shivering produces warmth that heats the body’s
core. When the body is too hot, such as when there is a fever, the body sweats in an effort
to cool down.

All organisms have ways of dealing with a changing environment. Anything that provokes
a response in an organism is called a stimulus. A stimulus can be internal, or from
within the organism itself. A stimulus can also be external, meaning it occurs outside the
organism. Both internal and external stimuli can cause a response, or resulting reaction,
in an organism. A response can be behavioral or biological. Behavioral responses typically
involve physical movements or reactions. Think about what happens when someone
touches a hot surface. The stimulus, a hot surface, is external. The typical response is to
pull the hand away. This is a behavioral response. Biological responses typically occur
inside the body. Now think about what happens when the body is infected with the flu virus.
The stimulus is the viral infection, which is internal. The fever that accompanies the flu is
the body’s way of trying to kill the invading virus. This is a biological response. You’ll learn
more about these responses later in the lesson.

Any response to a stimulus typically moves the organism back to homeostasis in order to
maintain a balanced, stable condition that favors survival.

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 EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL STIMULI
What happens if homeostasis is not maintained? Imagine the body’s
response to strenuous exercise. The body heats up. Sweat is
produced in order to cool the body down. The sweating causes the
body to lose a lot of water and possibly reach a state of dehydration.
Without fresh water to replenish the water lost through sweating, the
body may not function properly. In severe cases, dehydration can
lead to death. Homeostasis is necessary for survival.

Plant Responses to External Stimuli

Most plants are rooted in place. However, they can still respond
to external stimuli in a variety of ways that promote survival. One
type of behavioral response in plants is tropism, a directed growth Be sure to drink
or movement in response to a stimulus. Tropism can be positive lots of water
tropism towards the stimulus. Tropism can also be negative tropism, during exercise!
a directed growth or movement away from the stimulus.

Plants may respond to the following external stimuli:

• Light: Plants rely on photosynthesis to convert light energy into chemical energy.
Plants often grow towards a light source. This behavioral response is called positive
phototropism. Some plants actually move to follow the Sun as it travels through the sky
each day. The turning response to follow the sun is called heliotropism. This allows the
plant to maximize its exposure to light energy.
• Gravity: Gravitropism is the growth of a plant in a particular direction in response to
gravity. Roots grow downward in response to gravity. This is an important behavior that
helps plants grow roots into the soil where they can soak up water and nutrients needed
for the plant to survive.
• Touch: Plants respond to touch through thigmotropism. Plants exhibit thigmotropism
when they change their growth to bend around an object or grow up a wall or tree.
Many types of vine plants like ivy exhibit thigmotropism.

look out!
Plants respond to touch by changing their growth patterns. However, plants do not have
a nervous system like animals. Instead, they coordinate their behavioral responses using
plant hormones that travel inside the plant.

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 EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL STIMULI
what do you think?
Look at the images below. Which type of behavioral response is best illustrated in each image?

look out!
Plants respond to touch by changing their growth patterns. However, plants do not have
a nervous system like animals. Instead, they coordinate their behavioral responses using
plant hormones that travel inside the plant.

Animal Responses to External Stimuli

Unlike plants, animals are usually free to move throughout their environment. Movement
gives them access to food. It also exposes them to dangers, such as predators. Animals
must react to changes in their external environment in order to survive. If a reaction is
immediate and involuntary, the response is called a reflex reaction. Blinking the eyes in
response to sunlight is an example of a reflex reaction.

Reaction to an external stimulus requires sensing the stimulus. The five senses (hearing,
sight, taste, smell, and touch) are used to detect the stimulus. The nervous system
processes the information coming in from the senses and helps drive the responding
behavior.

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 EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL STIMULI
External stimuli that animals respond to include:
• Light: Animals respond to changes in daylight. Some animals are nocturnal, meaning
they are awake at night and sleep during the day. This is particularly helpful for animals
that live in hot deserts. These animals hunt at night when temperatures are cooler.
Other animals become active at sunrise, like roosters who crow when the Sun comes
up in the morning. Behaviors that follow a daily cycle are called circadian rhythms.
Circadian rhythms are often triggered by the daily changes in sunlight.
• Temperature: Animals require certain temperature ranges
in order to survive. Some animals survive best in the
hot desert, while others need a cold environment. Some
animals migrate to warmer areas in the winter in response
to changing seasonal temperatures.
• Danger: Animal responses often rely on more than one
sense at a time. Animals can sense danger, such as a
predator, by seeing it, smelling it, or touching something
it recognizes as dangerous. If the animal thinks it is in
danger, an important behavioral response is the fight or Penguins have a
flight response. The animal will either run away (flight) or thick layer of fat to
become aggressive towards the danger (fight) in order help them live in cold
to survive. The fight or flight response relies on sensory environments.
information that is processed by the nervous system, as
well as hormones from the endocrine system that drive
the behavioral response.

Looking to the Future: Virtual Reality

Animals, including humans, rely on visual information to interact with
the world around them. Virtual reality games create fictional visual
worlds in which players are immersed in a game or experience.
But virtual reality is not just for games. Doctors use virtual reality
to create safe, simulated environments. They expose patients to
situations or objects that create fear or anxiety in order to teach
patients how to manage their fears in the real world. As this
technology becomes more available, it may be used more widely to
treat patients with memory loss, physical impairments such as limited
movement of the limbs caused by brain damage, and even eating
disorders.

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 EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL STIMULI
Plant Responses to Internal Stimuli
All organisms have internal communication pathways to help them
maintain homeostasis. Plants need water and nutrients to grow.
If water is lacking, the plant may wilt in response. If nutrients are
missing from the plant’s environment, its growth might be stunted.
These are examples of biological responses.

As with responses to external stimuli, plants rely on hormones to

send signals within the plant in order to respond to internal stimuli.
For example, some hormones signal a plant to expand its root
system in response to lack of water or nutrients.

Animal Responses to Internal Stimuli Plants may wilt in

Internal stimuli cause responses to protect an animal and maintain response to lack of
homeostasis. Thirst and hunger are biological responses to lack water.
of water and food. Some responses
to internal stimuli protect the
animal from serious illness. When pathogen: a disease-
contaminated food is ingested, an causing agent such
animal will vomit to remove the as bacteria, fungus, or
food from the body. If a pathogen, a virus
such as a virus, infects the body,
the organism may raise its core
Fever helps the body body temperature through fever. The fever helps the body
protect itself against inactivate the invading virus. A fever is a biological response to
pathogens. chemicals released inside the body triggered by the invading
pathogen.

what do you think?

The human body’s temperature fluctuates throughout the day. These fluctuations are
typically within the normal range and do not upset homeostasis. What activities do you think
change body temperature within the normal range? Other than infections, what factors or
activities might change body temperature outside of the normal range?

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 EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL STIMULI
What do you know?
The chart below lists examples of plants and animals exposed to various stimuli. For each
stimulus, find the best matching response in the box below the chart. Write the response
in the column next to its matching stimulus. Then, in the same column, write whether the
stimulus is internal or external. Write whether the response is behavioral or biological.

Stimulus Matching Response

In an area where monarch
butterflies live, temperatures get
cold and food becomes hard to The stimulus is:
find.
The response is:

One side of a plant is exposed

to sunlight and the other side
of the plant does not receive The stimulus is:
sunlight.
The response is:

A rabbit sees and hears a

predator in the bushes nearby. The stimulus is:

The response is:

A dog eats a piece of food

that is contaminated with a
poisonous substance. The stimulus is:

The response is:

Responses
• The organism responds with flight.
• The organism responds with
phototropism.
• The organism responds by migrating.
• The organism responds by vomiting.

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 EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL STIMULI

connecting with your child

Understanding Gravitropism
Gravitropism is a plant’s response to
gravity. Gravitropism is a slow response that
students cannot observe in one sitting. As a
result, it is sometimes a difficult concept to
grasp. One way to observe gravitropism is
by changing a plant’s normal environment
and observing the results.
For this activity, you will need two kitchen
sponges, a small bean plant, string,
scissors, a tray or small bowl, water, and a
spray bottle. If a bean plant is not available,
plan ahead and purchase some bean seeds.
Plant a few seeds in some soil (one seed
per pot), place them in a sunny location, and
water them for a few days until at least one
of the seed sprouts.
As you carry out the activity, you may wish
to discuss the following questions with
your child:
• Before the activity: How do you think
the plant will respond to growing upside
down?
• After the activity: Was the plant only
responding to gravity, or was it also
responding to other stimuli? Was the
stimulus (or stimuli) external or internal?
• How is the plant’s response related to
homeostasis?

Help your child pour water over the sponges

until they are saturated, but not dripping wet.
Gently remove the plant from its container
and brush off as much soil as possible
without damaging the root system. Place
the roots between the two sponges, forming
a “root sandwich.” Gently tie the sponges
together with the string. Be sure to tie along
the width and length of the sponges.

Next, hang the plant upside down in a

sunny window using a tray or small bowl
underneath to catch any water droplets that
fall from the sponge. Check on the plant
each day, and spray the sponge with water
as needed to prevent it (and the plant) from
drying out. After a few days, the plant should
change its growth direction and curve
to grow upward. This is an exhibition of
gravitropism.

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