Animal Organ Systems and Their Functions
NUTRITION AND FEEDING MECHANISMS
Animals Have Four Main Feeding Mechanisms
Filter Feeding
• Filter feeding in water is a type of suspension
feeding, which includes removing suspended
food particles from the surrounding medium by
capture or trapping mechanisms
• Many aquatic animals strain small organisms or
food particles from the surrounding medium.
• The humpback whale has comblike plates called
baleen attached to the whale’s upper jaw,
which remove small invertebrates and fish from
enormous volumes of water and sometimes
mud
Substrate Feeding
• Substrate feeders are animals that live on their
food source.
• This leaf miner caterpillar, the larva of a moth,
is eating through the soft tissue of an oak leaf,
leaving a dark trail of feces in its wake
• Maggots (fly larvae) burrow into animal
carcasses.
Fluid Feeding
• Fluid feeders suck nutrientrich fluid from a
living host.
• This mosquito has pierced the skin of its
human host with hollow, needlelike
mouthparts and is consuming a blood meal
(colorized SEM).
• Hummingbirds and bees fluid-feed on
nectar of flowers.
Bulk Feeding
• Most animals, including humans, are bulk
feeders, which eat relatively large pieces of
food.
• Their adaptations include tentacles, pincers,
claws, venomous fangs, jaws, and teeth that kill
prey or tear off pieces of meat or vegetation.
Breathing through the skin (Cutaneous respiration)
• Multicellular animals breathe through their
skin provided they have a large surface area
relative to its volume and abundant
permeable blood vessels that can readily
transport gases across the skin.
Breathing through the tracheal system
• The insect tracheal system is a network of
air tubes that branch throughout the body.
Necessary gases enter the body through
openings called spiracles, conducted
through the trachea that terminates into
smaller tubes called tracheoles that are
connected to the body tissues.
Breathing under water through gills
• Animals under water or thriving in a semi-
aquatic habitat evolved gills to become
respiratory membranes.
• Gills are filamentous organs, with a rich
supply of blood vessels that conduct the
exchange of gases.
• Water flows into the gills where the blood
vessels readily extract the oxygen from the
flowing water in a countercurrent manner.
➢ In the gills, oxygen flows from an area of higher
concentration, the water, into an area of lower
concentration, the fish’s blood vessels.
➢ Countercurrent exchange also applies to heat
conservation when warm arterial blood
transfers heat to cold venous blood coming,
minimizing heat loss.
Breathing through lungs
• Lungs are terrestrial adaptations to
breathing, located inside the body and
protected by the skin and skeleton from
damage.
Path of Air
• external nostrils
• nasal passages
• pharynx
 • larynx • Valves exist to prevent the backflow of blood.
• trachea
• bronchi Parts of the Human Circulatory System
• bronchioles • The Heart
• alveoli • Arteries
RICE & ERIC • Arterioles
• Capillaries
When you inhale, you... • Venules
• Veins
• Relax your
• Internal intercostal muscles & Pulmonary and Systemic Circulation: The Flow of Blood
• Contract your
• External intercostal muscle

When you exhale, your...

• External intercostal muscles

• Relax & your
• Internal intercostal muscles
• Contract

CIRCULATION AND TRANSPORT

Two Types of Circulatory System

Open Circulatory System

• Blood is pumped from the heart and enters
body cavities, where the tissues are bathed in
the blood
• No network of blood vessels
• Blood flows slowly because there is no blood
pressure • The animal must move in order to
Through the Body
EXCRETION AND OSMOREGULATION
Osmoregulation
Homeostasis requires osmoregulation, the general term
for the processes by which animals control solute
concentrations and balance water gain and loss.

Osmoregulatory Challenges and Mechanisms: An animal

can maintain water balance in 2 ways.

• Osmoconformer – to be isoosmotic with its

surrounding
• All osmoconformers are marine animals.
• Osmoregulator – to control internal osmolarity
independent of that of the external
environment
move the blood in its body.
•  Osmoregulation enables animals to live in
Closed Circulatory System environments that are uninhabitable for
osmoconformers, such as freshwater and
• Blood is contained within blood vessels, it is not terrestrial habitats, or to move between marine
free in a cavity. and freshwater environments.
Forms of Nitrogenous Wastes

Malpighian Tubules of Insects Dedicated immune cells in the body fluids and tissues of
most animals specifically interact with and destroy
Insects and other terrestrial arthropods have organs pathogens.
called Malpighian tubules that remove nitrogenous
wastes and that also function in osmoregulation Two types of molecular recognition provide the basis for
the two types of immune defense found among
Excretion vs. Egestion animals.
• Excretion - the process by which metabolic
waste products and toxic materials are removed
from the body of an organism
• Excretion is not the same as defecation or
egestion
• Egestion – removal of undigested material from
the alimentary canal
• Undigested material from the alimentary canal
is not formed from substances within the cells
and has never been absorbed into the cells.

Major Functions of the Kidney

• Eliminating nitrogenous wastes, toxins, and

drugs from the body
• Regulating the volume and chemical makeup of
the blood
• Maintaining the balance between water and
salts and between acids and bases

IMMUNE SYSTEM
For a pathogen – a bacterium, fungus, virus, or other
disease-causing agent – the internal environment of an
animal is a nearly ideal habitat.
CHEMICAL AND NERVOUS CONTROL
Hormones Interact with Target Cells
Each hormone travels throughout the body, but it only
binds to target cells, those with the correct receptor
protein.
 Binding of the hormone to the receptor causes
("triggers") a chemical reaction ("response") inside
the cell without the hormone molecule itself ever
entering the cell

ACTIVATION: The chemical reaction activates

enzymes which will activate the second messenger
inside the cell.
A hormone is a regulatory substance produced in an
The second messenger provokes the cell’s response,
organism and transported in tissue fluids such as blood
usually by activating an enzyme.
to stimulate cells (target cells) or tissues (target tissues)
into action

Just as a radio signal only plays on radios that are

“tuned in” to the right station, hormones only produce
responses in target cells.

Hormones: Slow, Lasting Communication

Hormones affect mood, emotions, feelings of sexual

attraction, and developmental patterns, among other
processes.

Question

Suppose a hormone released by the pancreas has

target cells in the liver. Which of the following
statements is incorrect?

A. The hormone travels directly from the pancreas

to the liver.
B. Certain liver cells have receptor proteins that
recognize only that hormone.
C. The hormone could be detected in blood taken
from a person’s arm.
D. The hormone changes liver cell metabolism.
Hormones Stimulate Responses in Target Cells
Hormones are divided into two main classes: water-
soluble and lipid-soluble. These hormone classes act
differently on target cells.
Water-soluble hormones act quickly. Binding of one
hormone can activate several second messenger
molecules, all of which can activate several enzymes
present in the cell.
Unlike watersoluble hormones, lipid-soluble hormones
can pass through the target cell membrane.
The hormone enters the cell and then binds with a
receptor protein in either the cytoplasm or the nucleus.
It forms "hormonereceptor complex". The hormone-
receptor complex moves to the nucleus of the cell.

Water-soluble hormones cannot enter the target cell The receptor protein then activates transcription of a
because the fatty acid tails of the cell membrane are gene, resulting in the production of one or more
hydrophobic. proteins in the target cell.

The hormone molecule attaches ("binds") to a receptor The new protein triggers the hormone’s effects on the
molecule protruding from the surface of the target cell. cell.
Lipid-soluble hormones typically act fairly slowly
because the target cell must produce new proteins.
Key
difference between water soluble and lipid soluble
Water-soluble hormones bind to receptors on the
surface of the target cell
Fat-soluble hormones bind to receptors inside the
target cell.
Question How many of these events are unique to the
action of a lipid-soluble hormone?
• Hormone binds to receptor in cell nucleus.
• Hormone circulates in bloodstream.
• Hormone affects metabolism of target cell.
• Hormone triggers production of new protein
A. one B. two C. three D. four
Major Human Endocrine Glands
Many organs produce hormones. The main endocrine
glands in vertebrates are shown here. The
hypothalamus and the pituitary gland produce
hormones that coordinate the action of other endocrine
glands.
The anterior pituitary has cells that produce and release
hormones.
The hypothalamus adjusts hormone production based
on current hormone levels. Negative feedback systems
such as this regulate many hormone concentrations.
NERVOUS CONTROL: SENSORY AND MOTOR
MECHANISMS
The Nervous System: Rapid Communication
Rapid communication between cells is fundamental to
the function of the animal nervous system.
The nervous system consists mainly of nervous tissue,
which has two types of cells: neurons and neuroglia.
Neurons are interconnected cells that communicate via
electrical impulses. Neuroglia support neurons.
Many neurons work together as an animal senses and
reacts to its surroundings, makes decisions, and
maintains homeostasis.
Neurons in the peripheral nervous system carry
information to or from the central nervous system. For
example, neurons in sense organs respond to sensory
input. The central nervous system interprets signals it
receives from the peripheral nervous system.
In a fraction of a second, the central nervous system
signals the peripheral nervous system to stimulate a
motor response.
Neuron Structure and Arrangement
Biologists divide neurons into three classes
• Sensory neurons
• Interneurons
• Motor neurons
These neurons work together to coordinate reactions to
stimuli such as pain.
Sensory neurons bring information from the body’s
organs (such as heat, pain, taste, etc.) toward the
central nervous system.
Interneurons in the central nervous system receive
signals from sensory neurons. The message is
processed, and a signal is sent to a motor neuron.
A motor neuron conducts a message from the central
nervous system to a muscle or gland, stimulating
contraction or secretion.
Question
In a typical neuron, the ___ receive(s) information and
the ___ communicate(s) that information to a
neighboring cell.
A. cell body … dendrites
B. dendrites … axon
C. axon … cell body
D. axon … dendrites
E. dendrites … cell body
Action Potentials Convey Messages
Each neuron in this network sends a message to the
next cell. How is information carried through a neuron
to its connection with another cell?
The message is an electrical impulse called an action
potential, which travels along a neuron’s axon.
Question
In several neurological diseases, axons lose their
insulating myelin sheath. What is the consequence of
this loss?
A. Nerve cells lose too much heat.
B. Nerve cells retain too much heat.
C. Action potential transmission slows down.
D. Action potential transmission speeds up.
Messages Move from Cell to Cell
We’ve seen how impulses travel along one axon. How
do these impulses translate into messages conveyed to
other cells?
This communication occurs at a synapse, a junction
between a neuron and another cell.
Molecules called neurotransmitters travel across
synapses.
The synapse includes a sending neuron, a synaptic cleft,
and a receiving cell (which could be a neuron, muscle
cell, or gland cell).
The end of the sending neuron’s axon is the synaptic
terminal. This figure shows how an action potential
reaching the synaptic terminal initiates communication
with the receiving cell.
Action potentials stimulate vesicles loaded with
neurotransmitters to fuse with the sending neuron’s
membrane.
Neurotransmitters bind to receptor proteins in the
membrane of the receiving cell.
Ion channels open in the receiving cell membrane,
changing the likelihood of an action potential in the
receiving cell.
Comparison Between Nervous and Endocrine Systems
REPRODUCTION
Animals Reproduce Asexually or Sexually
Asexual reproduction does not require a partner and
produces identical or nearly identical offspring.
Unfertilized eggs of some bees, aphids, and lizards, for
example, mature into asexually-produced adults.
In parthenogenesis, an egg develops without being
fertilized. (e.g., male honeybees called drones are fertile
haploid adults)
Asexual Reproduction
• Budding
e.g., Hydra 109 Budding is a means of asexual
reproduction whereby a new individual develops from
an outgrowth of a parent, splits off, and lives
independently
➢ Fragmentation
Fragmentation is a means of asexual reproduction
whereby a single parent breaks into parts that
regenerate into whole new individuals.
➢ Regeneration
Regeneration occurs when a body part has broken off
and the organism grows a new one.
In sexual reproduction, both parents contribute genes
to the offspring, which are genetically unique.
Yellowhead jawfish, for example, reproduce sexually
and the male keeps the fertilized eggs protected in his
mouth until they hatch.
Although sexually reproducing individuals use energy
finding and courting mates, variation among offspring is
adaptive in changing environments.
The gonads of sexually reproducing individuals produce
haploid gametes by meiosis. Gametes unite at
fertilization, forming a diploid zygote.
Among sexually reproducing species, fertilization might
be internal or external.
This male sea urchin is releasing sperm into the water. If
a sperm cell unites with an egg cell released from a
female, then fertilization occurs externally.
Internal fertilization occurs when gametes unite inside
the body of one of the parents (usually the female, as in
these birds).
Development Begins with the Zygote
The zygote begins to divide soon after fertilization is
complete. Soon, cells begin to differentiate, or acquire
specialized functions. Genes then determine the overall
shape and structure of the animal’s body in a process
called pattern formation.
Development Is Indirect or Direct
Development might be indirect or direct.
An animal that undergoes indirect development has an
immature stage that looks different from the adult
Animals undergoing direct development have an
immature stage that looks like a small adult.
Question
What is the role of the zygote in the sexual life cycle?
A. It produces the male gametes.
B. It produces the female gametes.
C. It is the first cell of a new offspring.
D. It is the first differentiated cell of a new
offspring.
E. It represents the last stage in reproduction
before fertilization.
GENERAL
CHARACTERISTICS OF
ANIMALS
SEVEN TAXONOMIC CLASSIFICATION
➢ Kingdom
➢ Phylum
➢ Class
➢ Order
➢ Family
➢ Genus
➢ Species
CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE • Cellular organization •
Reproduction • Metabolism • Homeostasis • Heredity •
Response to stimuli • Growth and development •
Adaptation through evolution
Cellular Organization
It is the basic tool which ascends from simplest to
complex one. Starting from the base: Atoms are
organized into molecule into organelle and here comes
the cell. Cells combined to form tissue, tissue into
organ, organ into organ system, and finally into an
organism.
Reproduction
It is the biological process by which a new individual
organism "offspring“ is produced from their "parents".
Reproduction is a fundamental feature of all known life;
each individual organism exists as the result of
reproduction (either sexual or asexual)
Metabolism
Metabolism refers to all of the chemical reactions that
take place within an organism by which complex
molecules are broken down to produce energy and by
which energy is used to build up complex molecules. An
example of a metabolic reaction is the one that takes
place when a person eats a spoonful of sugar
Homeostasis
Homeostasis, from the Greek words for "same" and
"steady," refers to any process that living things use to
actively maintain fairly stable conditions necessary for
survival. The term was coined in 1930 by the physician
Walter Cannon
Heredity
Heredity is the passing on of traits from parents to their
offspring, either through asexual reproduction or sexual
reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire
the genetic information of their parents.
Response to Stimuli
A reaction to an internal or external force. The ability of
an organism or organ to respond to external stimuli is
called sensitivity. When a stimulus is applied to a
sensory receptor, it normally elicits or influences a
reflex via stimulus transduction
Growth and Development
Human development is a lifelong process of physical,
behavioral, cognitive, and emotional growth and
change. In the early stages of life from babyhood (infant
and toddler) to childhood, childhood to adolescence,
and adolescence to adulthood enormous changes take
place.
Adaptation through Evolution
According to Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution by
means of Natural Selection, organisms that possess
heritable traits that enable them to better adapt to
their environment compared with other members of
their species will be more likely to survive, reproduce,
and pass more of their genes on to the next generation
ANIMAL CHARACTERISTICS
• Multicellular
• Eukaryotic
• Presence of specialized tissues
• Sexual reproduction
• A blastula stage of development
• Motility
• Heterotrophy
• Advanced nervous system
(Multicellular) Organisms that consist of more than one
cell, in contrast to unicellular organisms. All species of
animals are multicellular however, it's important to
keep in mind that animals aren't the only multicellular
organisms; that honor is also shared by plants, fungi,
and even some species of algae.
Eukaryotic
• Eukaryotic organisms have welldefined nuclei
and internal organelles such as mitochondria,
and are capable of grouping together to form
multicellular organisms.
• While all animals are eukaryotes, not all
eukaryotes are animals: this hugely diverse
family also includes plants, fungi, and the tiny
marine proto-animals known as protists
Presence of specialized tissues
• One of the most remarkable things about
animals is how specialized their cells are. As
 these organisms develop, what seems to be
plainvanilla "stem cells" diversify into four
broad biological categories: nervous tissues,
connective tissues, muscle tissues, and
epithelial tissues which line the organs and
blood vessels.
• More advanced organisms display even more
specific levels of differentiation; the various
organs of your body, for example, are made up
of liver cells, pancreatic cells, and dozens of
other varieties. The exceptions that prove the
rule here are sponges, which are technically
animals but have virtually no differentiated
cells.
Sexual Reproduction
• Most animals engage in sexual reproduction:
two individuals have some form of sex, combine
their genetic information, and produce offspring
bearing the DNA of both parents.
• The advantages of sexual reproduction are
huge, from an evolutionary perspective: the
ability to test out various genome combinations
allows animals to adapt quickly to new
ecosystems, and thus out-compete asexual
organisms.
• Once again, sexual reproduction isn't restricted
to animals: this system is also employed by
various plants, fungi, and even some very
forward-looking bacteria.
Blastula Stage of Development
• When a male's sperm encounters a female's
egg, the result is a single cell called a zygote;
after the zygote undergoes a few rounds of
division, it's called a morula.
• Only true animals experience the next stage:
the formation of a blastula, a hollow sphere of
multiple cells surrounding an inner fluid cavity.
It's only when cells are enclosed in a blastula
that they start differentiating into different
tissue types.
Motility (ability to move)
• Most animals are capable of complex and
relatively rapid movement compared to plants
and other organisms.
• Organisms that live rooted to one spot are
sessile and those that move around are motile.
Even the most sessile animals can move at lease
part of their bodies. This movement is
dependent on how animals obtain food.
• Fish swim, birds fly, wolves run, snails slide, and
snakes slither. All animals are capable of
movement at some stage in their life cycles, an
evolutionary innovation that allows these
organisms to more easily conquer new
ecological niches, pursue prey, and evade
predators.
• Some animals, like sponges and corals, are
virtually immobile once they're fully grown, but
their larvae are capable of movement before
they become rooted to the sea floor. This is one
of the key traits that distinguishes animals from
plants and fungi, if you ignore relatively rare
outliers like Venus flytraps and fast-growing
bamboo trees.
Heterotrophy (ability to ingest food)
• All living things
need organic
carbon to support
the basic
processes of life,
including growth,
development, and
reproduction.
There are two
ways to obtain carbon: from the environment in
the form of carbon dioxide, a freely available
gas in the atmosphere, or by feeding on other
carbon-rich organisms.
• Living organisms that obtain carbon from the
environment, like plants, are called autotrophs,
while living organisms that obtain carbon by
ingesting other living organisms, like animals,
are called heterotrophs.
 • However, animals aren't the world's only Animal Symmetry
heterotrophs; all fungi, many bacteria, and even
some plants are at least partially heterotrophic.

Advanced Nervous System • It is the

balanced
• Of all the organisms on earth, only mammals distribution of
are sufficiently advanced to possess more-or- duplicate body
less acute senses of sight, sound, hearing, taste parts or shapes
and touch not to mention the echolation of within the body
dolphins and bats, or the ability of some fish of an organism.
and sharks to sense magnetic disturbances in In nature and biology, symmetry is always
the water using their "lateral lines.". These approximate.
senses, of course, entail the existence of at least • For example, plant leaves while considered
a rudimentary nervous system as in insects and symmetrical rarely match up exactly when
starfish, and, in the most advanced animals, folded in half. Symmetry creates a class of
fully developed brains-- perhaps the one key patterns in nature, where the near-repetition of
feature that truly distinguishes animals from the the pattern element is by reflection or rotation.
rest of nature • Classified asymmetrical, radial and bilateral

OTHER ANIMAL CHARACTERISTICS Radial Symmetry

Animal Sizes

• Animals range in size from no more than a few Symmetrical

cells like the mesozoans to organisms weighing arrangement of
many tons like the blue whale parts of an
organism around a
Animal Habitats single main axis, so
• Most animals inhabit the seas, with fewer in that the organism
fresh water and even fewer on land can be divided into
similar halves by any plane that contains the main axis.
Asymmetry The body plans of echinoderms, ctenophores,
cnidarians, and many sponges and sea anemones show
radial symmetry.
• It is the
Bilateral Symmetry
absence of, or a
violation of,
symmetry.
Symmetry is an Symmetrical
important property arrangement of an
of both physical and organism or part of
abstract systems and it may be displayed in an organism along a
precise terms or in more aesthetic terms. The central axis, so that
absence of or violation of symmetry that are the organism or part
either expected or desired can have important can be divided into
consequences for a system. two equal halves. Bilateral symmetry is a characteristic
of animals that are capable of moving freely through as a coelom does; it is just a bit more primitive
their environments. and made of different cells

Cephalization

• An evolutionary trend in which, over many

generations, the mouth, sense organs, and
nerve ganglia become concentrated at the front
end of an animal, producing a head region.
• This is associated with movement and bilateral
symmetry, such that the animal has a definite
head end. This led to the formation of a highly
sophisticated brain in three groups of animals,
namely the arthropods, cephalopod molluscs,
and vertebrates.

Body Cavity

A coelom is a cavity
lined by mesothelium,
an epithelium derived
from mesoderm.

Organs formed inside a

coelom can freely
move, grow, and
develop independently
of the body wall while fluid cushions and protects them
from shocks.

• The coelom is a structure that has evolved over

time and is only found in Kingdom Animalia.
Animals with a coelom are called coelomates or
sometimes eucoelomates, those with a 'true'
coelom. Among the coelomates, animal
members are classified as protostomes or
deuterostomes, depending on how the coelom
forms during embryonic development.
• There are also pseudocoelomates, or those with
a 'fake' coelom for example, roundworms and
acoelomates, those without a coelom for
example, flatworms. Their flat body types do
not allow for such a distinct body feature. The
pseudocoelom is partially lined with mesoderm
and endoderm cells versus a coelom that is
distinctly made of mesoderm cells. The
pseudocoelom functions in much the same way