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Poikilotherms are organisms whose internal body temperature varies with the ambient environmental temperature. Examples include many fish, amphibians, and reptiles. Some poikilothermic animals can also be homeothermic if they live in environments with very stable temperatures, like some tropical fish inhabiting coral reefs.

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42 views3 pages

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Poikilotherms are organisms whose internal body temperature varies with the ambient environmental temperature. Examples include many fish, amphibians, and reptiles. Some poikilothermic animals can also be homeothermic if they live in environments with very stable temperatures, like some tropical fish inhabiting coral reefs.

Uploaded by

Maria Katrinka Sophia Martires
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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A poikilotherm is an organism whose internal temperature varies considerably.

It is the opposite
of a homeotherm, an organism which maintains thermal homeostasis. Poikilotherm’s internal
temperature usually varies with the ambient environmental temperature, and many terrestrial
ectotherms are poikilothermic. Poikilothermic animals include many species of fish, amphibians,
and reptiles, as well as birds and mammals that lower their metabolism and body temperature
as part of hibernation or torpor. Some ectotherms can also be homeotherms. For example,
some species of tropical fish inhabit coral reefs that have such stable ambient temperatures that
their internal temperature remains constant.

Means of Heat Transfer


Heat can be exchanged between an animal and its environment through four mechanisms:
radiation, evaporation, convection, and conduction. Radiation is the emission of electromagnetic
“heat” waves. Heat radiates from the sun and from dry skin the same manner. When a mammal
sweats, evaporation removes heat from a surface with a liquid. Convection currents of air
remove heat from the surface of dry skin as the air passes over it. Heat can be conducted from
one surface to another during direct contact with the surfaces, such as an animal resting on a
warm rock.
Heat Conservation and Dissipation
Animals conserve or dissipate heat in a variety of ways. In certain climates, endothermic
animals have some form of insulation, such as fur, fat, feathers, or some combination thereof.
Animals with thick fur or feathers create an insulating layer of air between their skin and internal
organs. Polar bears and seals live and swim in a subfreezing environment, yet they maintain a
constant, warm, body temperature. The arctic fox uses its fluffy tail as extra insulation when it
curls up to sleep in cold weather. Mammals have a residual effect from shivering and increased
muscle activity: arrector pili muscles create “goose bumps,” causing small hairs to stand up
when the individual is cold; this has the intended effect of increasing body temperature.
Mammals use layers of fat to achieve the same end; the loss of significant amounts of body fat
will compromise an individual’s ability to conserve heat.

Endotherms use their circulatory systems to help maintain body temperature. For example,
vasodilation brings more blood and heat to the body surface, facilitating radiation and
evaporative heat loss, which helps to cool the body. However, vasoconstriction reduces blood
flow in peripheral blood vessels, forcing blood toward the core and the vital organs found there,
conserving heat. Some animals have adaptions to their circulatory system that enable them to
transfer heat from arteries to veins, thus, warming blood that returns to the heart. This is called
a countercurrent heat exchange; it prevents the cold venous blood from cooling the heart and
other internal organs. This adaption, which can be shut down in some animals to prevent
overheating the internal organs, is found in many animals, including dolphins, sharks, bony fish,
bees, and hummingbirds. In contrast, similar adaptations (as in dolphin flukes and elephant
ears) can help cool endotherms when needed.

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