By relying on technology for weather forecasts and adjusting clothing, humans possess great skill in regulating body temperature. Conformers must change their environment to survive temperature variations. The older term — cold-blooded — is less favored than ectotherms, which refers to animals that rely on the environment for their heat.
Conformers include fish, reptiles, insects, amphibians and worms. Conformers engage in behavior to regulate their temperature, such as basking in the sun for warmth or retreating underground or into water to cool. Some aquatic animals even alter their salinity to match that of the environment around them.
In cold weather, these animals slow their activity. Other animals such as moths can contract their wing muscles to produce heat, similar to shivering. Conformers risk death during extreme temperature changes. Fish exposed to great heat work harder to get oxygen from water, which in turn results in a greater need for oxygen. Conformers have slower growth rates at lower temperatures and reduced metabolic process rates. Some animals stand out as outliers for heat regulation.
For example, some mammals engage in hibernation, a form of dormancy. In doing so, these regulators act as endothermic conformers. They regulate their heat, but their body temperature can change in winter to match their environment, with slowed breathing and heart rate.
Hibernation also serves as protection from predators and when food supply is limited. In the case of desert pupfish, this conformer acts as an ectothermic regulator, by keeping its body temperature constant while relocating to varied environments. In both regulators and conformers, temperature affects longevity and aging. Typically, animals living in cool climates live longer. Even slight increases in temperature over time affect animal lifespans. At low temperatures, enzymes become inhibited, but in high temperatures, respiratory and circulatory systems struggle to meet oxygen demand, which negatively affects protein structure and function, membrane fluidity and gene expression.
This allows regulators to increase the possible ecological niches that they can inhabit. However, this regulation requires energy, so regulators tend to have high metabolic rates. The regulation of the internal environment is called homeostasis. This process requires a lot of energy and it is important because it provides enzymes in the body with an optimum temperature at which to work.
This can be elucidated from the examples of fishes. When fishes are exposed to great heat, their bodies work harder to get oxygen from water, which in turn results in a greater need for oxygen. These animals are also called endotherms which means, animals that depend on the internal heat generation for survival. These organisms can regulate their body temperature as per the variations in the external temperature to some extent.
They are also referred to as warm-blooded animals or the animals that can generate body heat. These animals control their body temperature in spite of their surroundings. Examples of such animals are mostly mammals including human beings and birds. Regulators or warm-blooded animals occupy a greater diversity of ecological niches than conformers. Regulators rely on sweating, panting, or opening their mouths when they need to cool down and they shiver and increase their metabolism when to remain warm.
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