● `color{violet}("An overwhelming majority")` (99%) of `color{violet}("animals")` and nearly all `color{violet}("plants")` cannot maintain a `color{violet}("constant internal environment")`.
● Their `color{violet}("body temperature")` changes with the `color{violet}("ambient temperature")`.
● `color{violet}("In aquatic animals")`, the `color{violet}("osmotic concentration")` of the body `color{violet}("fluids change")` with that of the `color{violet}("ambient water osmotic concentration.")`
● These `color{violet}("animals")` and `color{violet}("plants")` are simply conformers.
● Considering the benefits of a `color{violet}("constant internal environment to the organism")`, we must ask why these conformers had not evolved to become `color{violet}("regulators")`.
● Compared to the `color{violet}("human analogy")` we used above; much as they like, how many people can really afford an air conditioner? Many simply ‘sweat it out’ and resign themselves to suboptimal performance in hot summer months.
● Similarly, `color{violet}("thermoregulation")` is `color{violet}("energetically expensive")` for `color{violet}("many organisms")`.
● This is particularly true for `color{violet}("small animals")` like `color{violet}("shrews")` and `color{violet}("humming birds")`.
● `color{violet}("Heat loss or heat gain")` is a function of surface area.
● Since `color{violet}("small animals")` have a larger surface area relative to their volume, they `color{violet}("tend to lose body heat")` very fast when it is `color{violet}("cold outside")`; then they have to `color{violet}("expend")` much `color{violet}("energy to generate body heat")` through `color{violet}("metabolism.")`
● This is the `color{violet}("main reason")` why `color{violet}("very small animals")` are rarely found in `color{violet}("polar regions")`.
● During the course of evolution, the costs and benefits of `color{violet}("maintaining a constant internal environment")` are taken into `color{violet}("consideration.")`
● Some species have evolved the `color{violet}("ability to regulate")`, but only over a `color{violet}("limited range of environmental")` conditions, beyond which they simply conform.
● If the `color{violet}("stressful external conditions")` are `color{violet}("localised")` or remain only for a short duration, the `color{violet}("organism")` has two other alternatives
● `color{violet}("An overwhelming majority")` (99%) of `color{violet}("animals")` and nearly all `color{violet}("plants")` cannot maintain a `color{violet}("constant internal environment")`.
● Their `color{violet}("body temperature")` changes with the `color{violet}("ambient temperature")`.
● `color{violet}("In aquatic animals")`, the `color{violet}("osmotic concentration")` of the body `color{violet}("fluids change")` with that of the `color{violet}("ambient water osmotic concentration.")`
● These `color{violet}("animals")` and `color{violet}("plants")` are simply conformers.
● Considering the benefits of a `color{violet}("constant internal environment to the organism")`, we must ask why these conformers had not evolved to become `color{violet}("regulators")`.
● Compared to the `color{violet}("human analogy")` we used above; much as they like, how many people can really afford an air conditioner? Many simply ‘sweat it out’ and resign themselves to suboptimal performance in hot summer months.
● Similarly, `color{violet}("thermoregulation")` is `color{violet}("energetically expensive")` for `color{violet}("many organisms")`.
● This is particularly true for `color{violet}("small animals")` like `color{violet}("shrews")` and `color{violet}("humming birds")`.
● `color{violet}("Heat loss or heat gain")` is a function of surface area.
● Since `color{violet}("small animals")` have a larger surface area relative to their volume, they `color{violet}("tend to lose body heat")` very fast when it is `color{violet}("cold outside")`; then they have to `color{violet}("expend")` much `color{violet}("energy to generate body heat")` through `color{violet}("metabolism.")`
● This is the `color{violet}("main reason")` why `color{violet}("very small animals")` are rarely found in `color{violet}("polar regions")`.
● During the course of evolution, the costs and benefits of `color{violet}("maintaining a constant internal environment")` are taken into `color{violet}("consideration.")`
● Some species have evolved the `color{violet}("ability to regulate")`, but only over a `color{violet}("limited range of environmental")` conditions, beyond which they simply conform.
● If the `color{violet}("stressful external conditions")` are `color{violet}("localised")` or remain only for a short duration, the `color{violet}("organism")` has two other alternatives