This physiology course explores the means by which plants and animals interact with their environments to support the basic needs of surviving, obtaining nutrients, exchanging gases, and reproducing. The course examines the developments that have evolved in conjunction with the need of animals to search out and procure food - their nutrient and energy source - and contrasts this with plants, which are able to manufacture energy-rich molecules from simple inorganic raw materials. The course focuses on the complex systems of neural and endocrine regulation in animals and hormonal and environmental regulation in plants to understand how cells and organs within an organism maintain communication. We also discuss the regulation of respiration, circulation, and heart function, as well as the mechanisms that underlie the function of the brain.

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