The Ecology Book

73

Emperor penguins survive freezing

Antarctic temperatures thanks in part

to the way their bodies have evolved

to adapt to the harsh environment.

See also: Evolution by natural selection 24–31 ■ Ecological niches 50–51

■ Competitive exclusion principle 52–53 ■ Ecological stoichiometry 74–75

ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES

their legs. The warm blood arriving

from the body is cooled to near

32°F (0°C) by the chilled blood

arriving from the feet, which

warms to body temperature in

the process.

Gazelles in Africa use a similar

counter-current system to cool their

body temperature. They are able to

chill the blood entering their head,

giving them an advantage over

their predators, who often overheat.

Camels have a heat-exchange

system in their nasal cavity, which

reduces the amount of water lost in

their breath. Hot, dry air is inhaled

and mixes with moisture inside

the nose before traveling to the

lungs. The exhaled air is much

cooler than the air outside, so the

moisture it carries condenses in

the nose. This creates the cool,

damp conditions needed to chill

the next in-breath.

Future challenges

Today ecophysiology is becoming

increasingly focused on plants,

fungi, and microbes. Like animals,

they have to adapt to survive—and

studying them offers the possibility

of vital discoveries for commercial

and conservation purposes. ■

Knut Schmidt-Nielsen

Knut Schmidt-Nielsen grew

up in the Norwegian town of

Trondheim. His interest in the

way animal physiology related

to habitat was inherited from

his grandfather who, years

before Knut’s birth, had

released thousands of flounder

(a marine fish) hatchlings into

a freshwater lake. Although

the fish thrived, they were

unable to breed because their

reproductive physiology was

adapted for life in salt water.

Schmidt-Nielsen joined

Duke University, North

Carolina, in 1954. He built a

climate-controlled space for

keeping desert animals, where

he considered the anatomy

of camels, gerbils, and other

species able to live for long

periods without water. He also

investigated the respiratory

systems of birds and the

buoyancy of fish. His 1960

textbook Animal Physiology

is still a classic work.

Key works

1960 Animal Physiology

1964 Desert Animals

1972 How Animals Work

1984 Scaling

1998 The Camel’s Nose:

Memoirs of a Curious Scientist

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