Animal Form and

Function
 The organs that make up the systems of higher
vertebrates and the simple organ-like structures
used by different invertebrates enable this
organisms to maintain homeostasis.
 It allows a feedback loop that communicates
with other organs to allow for a coordinated
function.
 In this chapter , you will have a deeper
understanding of morphology and physiology of
animal systems and better understand how this
compares and contrasts to the plant systems.
 Morphology – the structure and form of an

organism; the scientific study of the

structure and form of organisms
- The science of structure.

 Physiology – the study of the physical function of

living organism.
 Homeostasis – maintaining a constant internal

environment despite changing

external conditions
Animal Reproduction
 Animals reproduce asexually, sexually or by
both means.
 In asexual reproduction, individuals are
exact clones of the parent with identical
genetic make up.
 In sexual reproduction, new individuals are
formed from the combination of haploid
gametes to form a genetically unique
offspring.
Asexual Reproduction
Can occur in different means.
Common types of asexual reproduction
namely
- Regeneration
- Budding
- Parthenogenesis
Regeneration – involves the production and differentiation of new
tissues to replace missing and damaged parts of the body. It
allows cellular replication by mitosis followed by differentiation of
the
tissues.

This ishighly developed in invertebrates such as hydras,

flatworms annelids and echinoderms.

Insome organisms such as the aquatic annelids, breaking off its

body parts into several pieces produces a complete worm.
 Budding – involves forming a new individual
from an out growth on the parent’s body. This
is typical of hydras and polyps. Hydras
produce buds that branch off from the side of
the body.
 Once a bud breaks off, a new hydra will begin
life independently. In other cases a bud is left
attached to the parents and remains bound
with the others to later grow as a colony.
 Parthenogenesis – is a development that involves an
activated unfertilized egg that undergoes mitosis in the
absence of cytokinesis
 Cytokinesis – the process of cytoplasmic division in a cell.
A division of the cytoplasm into two daughter cells that
occurs after nuclear division in mitosis and meiosis.
 The two nuclei then fuse together to form the diploid
nucleus then further develop as if it had been fertilized.
 This is common in some species of aphids, bees, wasps
and ants.
 Few species of vertebrates such as Bynoe’s gecko
(Heteronotia binoei) from Australia can perform
parthenogenesis.
 Budding
 Parthenogenesis
Sexual Reproduction
 A characteristic of nearly all eukayotes.
 Eukaryotes – are any organisms composed of cells
with nucleus and membrane-bound organelles.
 The redistribution of genes and random assortment of
traits enhances the survival of most organisms.
 The organisms then develop from zygote (fertilized
egg) to a reproductively capable individual.
 During fertilization, two haploid cells combine to
produce a diploid zygote.
 In some simple eukaryotes the gametes are structurally
similar (referred to as isogamy)
 Isogamy – reproduction by the union of like
gametes.
 But in most animals, gametes are distinctly
different (anisogamy).
 Anisogamy – a common type of reproduction in
which the two gametes that join to produce the
zygote differ greatly in size, with the smaller of the
two mobile and seeking out the larger , which is
immobile.
 In anisogamous systems, the smaller of the pair of
gametes is considered male.
 Organisms producing only sperm are male and those
producing only egg are female.
 However, in some animals, both female and male
reproductive organs occurs within the same individual.
These species are hermaphrodite or monoecious.
 Hermaphrodite – An organism with both male and
female or both reproductive organs.
 Common in sponges, flatworms, annelids and mollusks.
 Although hermaphroditic organisms can produce both
sperm and eggs, they usually do not fertilize.
 Self- fertilized organisms usually lose the advantage of
genetic variation as compared to those that arises from
cross- fertilization.
 This is done by various means such as anatomical
separation of gametes or simultaneous release of
gametes that render the sperm incapable of fertilization.
 Some individuals also change sex from male to female
or vice versa.
 An organism may start off as male converting to female
(protandry) or as female to male (protogyny).
 For instance, some clown fish can start as a
small non – breeding male, which will grow
bigger when the only female in the group dies.
 The largest male ‘transforms’ to a female
clown fish, then the largest non-breeding male
becomes the male breeding fish.
 Animal Reproductive
Development
 The nature of development is related to the reproductive
strategy of a particular species.
 Indirect Development – Involves one or more intermediate
larval forms before the adult form is attained.
 Among animals that show indirect development, fertilization
follows the random release of gametes in the environment.
 With only a sufficient amount of yolk to sustain the
developing embryo, this will hatch into a larval form which
feeds and grows before metamorphosing to an adult form.
 Though indirect development occurs mostly in aquatic
animals, this also occurs in butterfly and frogs.
 Other animals undergo direct development.
 Direct development offspring hatch or born in a miniature
adult form. These are typically those where females produce
smaller numbers of large yolky eggs containing sufficient food
reserves for elaborate development.
 Mammals such as elephants, primates and bats to name a
few, also show direct development; however, extended
development is sustained by transfer of nutrients from mother
to embryo through the placenta or during milk suckling when
the young is born.
 Specifically,for eutherian mammals, the developing
embryo is retained within the mother’s body in the
uterus for the major part of its development.
 The placenta serves as a pathway for nutrient
exchange to supply the needs of a developing
mammalian embryo.
 At birth, young eutherians are essentially
independent with little support required from the
parent.
 E.g. large herbivores such as horses, cows and
goats have young that can stand and run soon after
birth although they are still dependent on milk for
quite some time.
 On the other hand, mice and rat pups are virtually
helpless at birth.
 Most eutherians lie between these two extremes for
food and shelter for a short period relative to their life
expectancy.
 However, monotremes and marsupials show quite
different pattern of development to the eutherians.
 Eutherian – A member of the major division of
eutheria of class mammalia. Eutherian mammals
nourish their young within the uterus to moved
advanced stage of development
 Monotremes – A member of the major division
Monotremata (egg-laying mammals) of class
mammalia, found in Australia and New Guinea
 Monotremes are oviparous-(egg-laying) and marsupials are
viviparous- Giving live birth as the ordinary mode of
reproduction.
 But in both cases, their youngs emerge at the early stage of
development.
 This short gestation period is followed by long lactation period,
which is the exact opposite of the eutherian mammals.
 Gestation- the period of development inside the mothers body
from fertilization to birth.
 Most animals reproduce sexually although some species can do
both sexual and asexual reproduction.
 The primary sex organs in animals are gonads, which produce
gametes.
The male gonad is the testis and the female
gonad is the ovary.
 a number of secondary sex organs are also
present, which aid in secreting, protecting and
nourishing the gametes.
Gonads also produce hormones that regulate
the development of gametes and secondary
sex organs act as pheromones and produce
sexual differences in appearance and behavior.
 Gametogenesis - is a long sequence of events that
take place in the production of sperm and egg.
Spermatogenesis and oogenesis specifically refer to
the male and female gamete production, respectively.
At an early stage of development of an animal, germ
cell separate from somatic cells to migrate to the
developing gonads.
 It then divides repeatedly to form large number of
cells needed for reproduction later on.
 The timing of proliferation depends on the species
and sex of the animal.
 For example, proliferation of germ cells in female
mammals begins during embryogenesis and ends
before birth.
 All the germ cells of the female are already present in her
ovaries before she is born. In male mammals, a second
round of mitotic division occurs later in life and continues
for the remainder of the animal’s reproductive life.
 At this stage, the female germ cells are oogania and the
male germ cells are called spermatogania.
 It then enters meiosis as spermatocytes and oocytes.
 Similar to proliferation stage, the timing and meiotic
division depends on the sex and species.
 In female mammals, the primary oocyte remains dormant
at prophase 1 in the ovary until after sexual maturation.
Once it gets activated by hormonal
signals, a mature egg released from an
ovary which triggers the completion of
meiosis 1
As the egg and sperm cell mature
followed by the fusion of these gametes,
fertilization marks the beginning of a new
organism.
This involves the fusion of gametes that
leads to egg activation and nuclear fusion.
Animal Development
Cleavage Formation and Blastulation
Gastrulation
 In spite of the differences in embryonic
development across animal species, cleavage
formation, gastrulation and organogenesis appears
to be identical in all animal groups.
 Cleavage starts when the zygote undergoes rapid
cell division resulting in cells called blastomeres.
 The cells of the blastomeres decrease in size but
the size of the embryo remains the same.
 Thus, the embryo becomes a cluster of cells in
which the tissues and organs will be derived.
 The process of cleavage formation might be similar
in all animals; however, the pattern of cleavage
varies depending on the amount of yolk in the egg.
 Divided into subtypes based on distribution of
yolk, i.e., isolecithal(uniform),
centrolecithal(interior) and teleolecithal(one
hemisphere).
 For organisms w/ isolecithal egg, such as sea
cucumber, yolk is evenly distributed w/ a centrally
located mitotic spindle.
 Thus, the egg divides into equal blastomeres w/
equal size at the end of blastulation.
 Similar to many animal groups, a blastocoel is
formed at the center of the blastula.
Other organisms exhibit a mesolecithal
egg like amphibians where there is
moderate amount of yolk and is
distributed from an area with high
concentration of yolk (vegetal pole) to
a low concentration at the opposite
side (animal pole).
As a result, more division occurs in the
animal region than the vegetal region.
 With birds and insects, the yolk-rich egg lead to a
formation of yolk-free disc (blastodisc or
blasoderm) on top of a large mass of yolk.
 Mammalian cleavage proceeds differently from all
animals.
 Cleavage formation is equal but the orientation is
different.
 Cleavage of the first blastomere is vertical, then
proceeds to vertical cleavage in one and a
horizontal cleavage in another.
 In addition,cleavage formation takes far longer in
mammals than other organism.
For example, division in mice is 12-24
hrs apart whereas sea urchin zygote
develops to a free swimming larva in
12 hrs.
In mammals, an inner cell mass is
formed with a blastocyst at one end of
blastula.
In the next stage of embryogenesis, the embryo
enters a rearrangement of cells to form the gastrula,
which shows the basic body plan of the adult animal.
Similar to cleavage formation, gastrulation occurs
based on the group to which the animal belong.
Gastrulation – creation of a new tissue layer by the
movement of cells in the embryo (blastula).
The first sign of gastrulation in sea urchins is a
flattening of the vegetal pole to form the vegetal plate.
Mesenchyme cell in this area detaches itself and
moves to the interior of the embryo towards the animal
pole.
 Mesenchyme – a jelly like material underneath the epidermis of a
sponge
 These cells form the skeleton of the embryo.
 The vegetal pole then invaginates to form a cavity known as the
archenteron.
 Archenteron – a cavity that eventually becomes the digestive tract
of the adult or larva; formed during the development of a
deuterostome embryo.
 Animal Nutrition
In the course of evolution, animals
have formed ways to obtain, process
and digest foods as heterotrophs
Heterotroph - an organism that unable
to make its own food and must take in
nutrients from its environment.
Some were able to establish symbiosis with
other organisms to perform their function
Symbiosis – a relationship between two(2)
distinct type of organisms, in which they live
together.
Symbiosis is of three types,
Parasitism,
Mutualism
Commensalism
Generally, animals needs carbohydarates, lipids
and protein as basic organic compounds and
supply of vitamins,minerals and water as
additional nutrient requirements
Carbohydrates and lipids serve as energy stores
in which the energy to form (ATP), the energy
currency of the cell, is derived.
Essential fatty acids and amino acids are obtained
either from gut symbionts or direct food sources.
Vitamins, similar in plants, are organic
compounds that are only needed in minute
amounts but essential for metabolic functions.
Water soluble vitamins are regularly consumed
whereas fat- soluble vitamins (vitamins A,D,E
and K) are readily stored in the body.
Minerals are also needed for ion exchange, body
component and ATP production.
Most minerals are utilized as enzyme cofactor or
as part of a transport system.
Table 2.1 Essential
Elements and
Physiology in Animals
 Elements Function in Animals
Calcium Component of bone and teeth ; involved in blood
clotting, muscle and nerve function.

Chlorine Formation of HCl in stomach, acid-base balance and

nerve function

Copper Component of enzymes involved in the synthesis of

melanin, haemoglobin and iron metabolism

Flourine Maintenance of bone and teeth

Iodine Component of thyroid hormone

Iron Component of haemoglobin,myoglobin,cytochromes

and electron carriers

Magnesium Muscle and nerve fx, coenzyme

Phosphorous Component of bone, ATP, DNA & RNA

Potassium Acid- base balance, water balance and neural function

Sodium Acid- base balance, water balance and neural function

Sulfur Component of body proteins

Zinc Components of digestive enzymes

Essential Vitamins and
Physiology in Animals
 Vitamins Function in
Animals
A (Retinol) Synthesis of retinal pigments,
regulation of bone cell activity,
maintain epithelial tissues.

D (Calciferol) Involved in calcium absorption,

bone growth and mineralization

E (Tocopherol) Antioxidant

K (Phylloquinone) Blood Clotting

 B1 (Thiamin) Coenzyme nervous system and muscle
functions, etc.

B2 (Riboflavin) Coenzyme in cellular respiration; helps convert food

(carbohydrates) into fuel (glucose)

B3 (Niacin) Coenzyme in cellular respiration; helps convert food

(carbohydrates) into fuel (glucose)

B6 (Pyridoxine) Coenzyme in amino acid metabolism, normal brain

development and function, essential hormones
productions

B5 (Panthotenic Acid) Part of coenzyme–A for carbohydrates and lipid

synthesis and break down of fats and
carbohydrates for energy: RBC production; sex an
stressed related hormones

B9 (Folic Acid) Coenzyme in nucleic acid synthesis and amino acid

metabolism; proper brain function, mental and emotional
health.

B7 (Biotin) Coenzyme in carbon dioxide fixation; Convert food into

glucose to produce energy; activate protein/amino acid
metabolism

B12 (Cyanocobalamin) Coenzyme in nucleic acid metabolism; healthy nerve

cells; helps in the production of DNA and RNA
 Since both plants and animals requires specific organic and
inorganic compounds, their tissue composition eventually
varies.
 Once an organism obtained the food, the next process is
how to digest it such that it can pass through the gut wall.
 Feeding begins with physical digestion by grinding or
chewing.
 Varied ways are employed by groups of organism to perform
this process.
 Some break up food by using teeth/jaws, muscular gizzard.
 Gizzard – An organ present in the digestive in the digestive
tract of certain vertebrates, including birds, reptiles and some
fish and edentate mammals, as well as various invertebrates
such as insects, molluscs and worms.
 A gizzard serves the same function as molar teeth it grinds the
food into a digestible pulp.
 Animals with gizzards eat coarse, hard matter such as sand and
rocks, without which the grinding action of their gizzards would
be far less effective.
 A muscular grinding organ that is part of the digestive system in
segmented worms and birds.
 This is followed by enzymatic digestion involving hydrolytic
enzymes and a whole range of digestive enzymes.
 The function of enzyme is also dependent not only on the
dietary behavior of the organs but also on the pH of the
surrounding environment.
 Diversity of Digestive
Enzymes
 The most common form of digestion adapted by both
unicellular and multicellular animals is called
“phagocytosis”
 Phagocytosis – An intracellular digestion of
macromolecules by a lysosome.
 This involves an intracellular digestion by fusion of food
vacuole and lysosome.
 The lysosome contains digestive enzymes that are
produced by the rough ER.
 Most animals use extracellular digestion, which involves secretion
of the enzyme where chemical breakdown occurs outside of a
cell.
 Corals, anemones jellyfish secrete enzymes into a sac-like gut.
 The entrance of food and exit of waste uses the same opening,
the mouth.
 Food gets engulfed by endocytosis and digested intracellularly,
and then it released back to the gut to pass out to the mouth.
 Some flatworms are capable of absorbing the nutrients that they
need from multiple blind sacs present on the body.
 This increases the surface area to which nutrients may come in
contact, thereby in creasing its efficiency as a parasite.
 In some stages of evolution, organisms develop a two way
opening as seen in nematodes.
 The mouth is located at one end and the anus on the other end.
In such case, the body movement and force of food entering
the gut compensate the absence of muscular wall of the gut.
This structure also permits independent elimination of waste
and ingestion of food particles.
 Annelids, mollusks and echinoderms and chordates develop a
coelom.
 Coelom – a body cavity filled with fluid surrounded by
mesoderm.
 Peristalsis from the muscular gut allows food to move
independently due to the body movement.
 Ingestion also allows storage of food energy, which
permits a discontinuous need to find new sources of
food.
 Furthermore some arthropods are able to develop special
mouth parts such as the chelicerates and mandibulates
 Chelicerate – the 1st pair of appendages in arachnids that
help in feeding; modified into poison fangs in spider.
 Mandibulate – either the upper or lower part of a bird‘s
beak. A part of an insect’s mouth that looks like a jaw
and is often used for biting things.
Chelicerates, like spiders, release an enzyme to the prey
then suck the pre-digested food to their system.
This pre- digested food becomes easier tp process
considering the short gut of the spiders.
Other specialized structures are documented in terrestrial
insects with crushing jaws or piercing mouthparts and
crustaceans by filter feeding or scavenging.
Vertebrates have developed jaws and teeth that allow
large chunks of food to be ingested and mechanically
processed.
The processed of the teeth and jaw is adapted to the diet
of these organisms.
 For instance, carnivorous fish often have the sharp grasping
needle-like teeth with simple stomach and short intestine,
whereas a herbivorous fish has flat crushing teeth and long coiled
gut.
 This is similar to higher vertebrates such as amphibians, reptiles
and mammals, the teeth are more specialized depending on the
function:
 Incisor – for grasping
 Canines – for stabbing
 Pre molars and molars for grinding.
 All or some may be present in one organism.
 However, some denture type is more specialized depending on
the feeding behavior.
Filter feeding is also utilized by some
animals. This involves obtaining small
particles of food, usually in aquatic
environment, from large volume of
water.
Commonly observed in whales and
flamingos.
 Circulation and
Gas Exchange
 Oxygen availability to animal depends on the external respiratory
medium and environmental factors such as temperature, salinity (
aquatic life), altitude (terrestrial life) and distance from air
interference.
 Terrestrial organisms directly take in oxygen from the atmosphere
whereas aquatic organisms obtain the supply as dissolved
oxygen, which occurs in minute amounts. Thus, it is more
challenging and energy intensive for aquatic organisms to
perform gas exchange.
 The simplest multicellular animal, the sponges have
no organs to facilitate gas exchange but they utilize
the pores canals and chambers present on their
entire body surface.
 Cells lining the body of the sponge, known as
“choanocytes”, initiate and maintain the water current
to constantly bring in food and oxygen as well as to
remove wastes and CO₂.
 Choanocytes – a flagellated endodermal cell that
lines the cavity of a sponge and has a contractile
protoplasmic cup surrounding the flagellum.
 another form of gas exchange adapted by
oligochaetes is by cutaneous exchange.
 Oligochaetes – any of a class or order of
hermaphroditic terrestrial or aquatic annelids that lack
a specialized head.
 This involves a direct exchange across the general
body surface and relies heavily on natural convection
and active ventilation by the organisms.
 Due to a thicker protective outer body covering, larger
animals cannot rely on the above mentioned gas
exchange mechanism.
 Some fish and amphibians can perform cutaneous
exchange, this will not be sufficient and sustainable
for them.
 thus simple organs are used to facilitate gas
exchange.
 Among aquatic crustaceans and mollusks, the gills,
an outgrowth of the body surface serves as the
respiratory organ.
 This is covered by a gill, chamber, however, some
species have gills that hangs freely in the water.
 The more complex the gill structure means more surface
area and higher respiration.
 In order to facilitate active ventilation of the gills, the cilia
present on the surface of the gill chamber creates a
rhythmical beating that creates an unidirectional flow of
water.
 In most the fish, the gills an outgrowth of the pharynx, is
covered with an operculum. To increase the surface area
for higher respiration, most fish has four gill arches, each
containing a filament.
 Individual filaments have lamellae that are oriented
vertically on the dorsal and ventral surface.
 Active ventilation of the gills occurs when the buccal and
opercular cavities contract.
 During inspiration, the mouth opens, opercula remains
closed then the water gets in.
 During expiration, the mouth closes, opercula opens
and the water moves from buccal to opercula cavity
then out of the opening.
 In the capillaries of the lamellae in each gill filament,
blood flows on the opposite direction.
 This coordinated movement of buccal and opercular
cavities maintains the hydrostatic pressure difference
across the gills.
 Buccal cavity – the mouth
 Animal Nervous System
Most animals have some type of nervous system w/ distinct
organization of neurons (nerve cell)
 Neuron or Nerve Cell – transmits info to a muscle or gland
from the brain or spinal cord.
 CNS (Central Nervous System) – composed of the brain
and ventral nerve cords with clusters of neurons called
“ganglia”.
 PNS (Peripheral Nervous System) – part of the NS that is
outside the CNS and comprises the cranial nerves
excepting the optic nerve, spinal nerve and the autonomic
NS
 There are three stages in the interpretation of signals
that reaches the brain:
 Sensory Input
 Integration
 Motor Output
 Sensory neurons are responsible for receiving the
external stimuli (light, heat, sound) and internal
conditions (blood pressure, muscle tension).
 Interneurons integrate the sensory signal in the CNS
then the motor output (using motor neurons) leaves
the CNS to send signal to effector cells (muscle or
endocrine cells). These effector cells then perform a
response to the stimulus.
 Neuron – is the basic unit of the nervous system, is
composed of a nucleus from the cell body and two
types of extensions: dendrites and axon.
 An axon hillock connects the axon to the cell body
where signals are generated.
 An axon is divided into several branch and end in a
synaptic terminal where a small gap is present called
”synapse”.
 Dendrite – finely divided branches of a neuron that
carry impulses towards the cell body.
 Axon – a long thin branch of a neuron that carries
impulses away from the cell body. A neuron process
that carries nerve impulses away from the cell.
 This is also a site of communication between neurons.
 Axons are covered with a myelin sheath. Information is
passed from the presynaptic cell to the postsynaptic cell using
chemical transmitter called “neurotransmitters”.
 Glial cells – astrocytes and oligodendrocytes
 myelin sheath – a substance forming an outer layer, normally
found around the neuron. Electrically insulates neurons thus
allow proper functions of the nervous system.
 Glial – supporting tissue intermingled with the essential
elements of nervous tissue especially in the brain, spinal cord
and ganglia
 Astrocytes – a large star shaped cell of the glia.
 Oligodendrocytes – a glial cell that resembles an astrocytes
but is smaller with few and slender processes having few
branches.
Vertebrate Nervous System
 Allvertebrate brains contains three regions.
 Hindbrain, Midbrain and Forebrain
 Hindbrain – junction of the brain and spinal
cord; it coordinates autonomic processes and
motor responses. The cerebellum, which is an
extension of the hindbrain, assists in
regulating motor responses.
 Midbrain – responsible for visual processing and
some motor control.
 Forebrain – located near the anterior end; can be
divided into two distinct regions
 Diacephalon – contains thalamus and hypothalamus
 Telencephalon – for directing an appropriate
response to all sensory info.
1) Refers to the scientific study of the structure and
form of organism.
2) Refers to maintaining a constant internal environment
despite changing external conditions.
3) Refers to individuals with exact clones of the parent
with identical genetic make up.
4) Refers to combination of haploid gametes to form a
genetically unique offspring.
5) It involves to forming a new individual from
an out growth on the parent’s body
(e.g. Hydra)
6) It refers to the development that involves an
activated unfertilized egg that undergoes
mitosis in the absence of cytokinesis.
7) It refers to an organism with both male and
female or both reproductive organs.
8) It refers to the female gonads.
9) It refers to the male gonads.
10) It refers to relationship between two(2)
distinct type of organisms, in which they live
together.
 Name of Vitamins Other Name
11)
Vitamin D

12)
Vitamin A

13)
Vitamin C

14)
Vitamin K
15)
Vitamin E

16)
B12

17)
B6

18)
B1

19)
B9

20)
B3
21-23) 3 Regions of the Brain
24-26) 3 Types of Asexual Reproduction
27-29) 3 Types of Symbiosis
30 - BONUS