Evolutionary physiology

Evolutionary physiology refers to the study of how physiological processes and functions have evolved over long periods of time, taking into account the influence of natural selection and other evolutionary mechanisms. It involves examining the adaptations that have occurred in organisms in response to changing environmental conditions and the ways in which these adaptations have shaped their physiological systems.From: Animal Locomotion [2017]

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Published in Malcolm S. Gordon, Reinhard Blickhan, John O. Dabiri, John J. Videler, Animal Locomotion, 2017

Malcolm S. Gordon

Physiology is a life science that has historically included studies of how animals work as highly organized, integrated collections of physical and chemical processes and systems. Much of physiology is concerned with the internal workings of animals (their internal environments), with humans having been the primary subjects for much of the field. Other animals, however, also have their own physiologies, hence comparative physiology. Physiology in the context of functional interactions of animals with real-world external environments is environmental and ecological physiology. Physiology in the context of long time periods is evolutionary physiology. Behavioral physiology recognizes the inseparable relationships between bodily functions and activities. The often adverse impacts of many human activities on animals have led to the development of conservation physiology. Excellent introductions to many aspects of comparative, ecological, and evolutionary physiology are Martin et al. (2015) and Hill et al. (2016). The most authoritative ongoing online source on all aspects of animal physiology is edited by Pollock et al. (2015).

Oxygen: a new look at an old therapy

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Published in Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 2019

Richard Beasley, Diane Mackle, Paul Young

It is tempting to speculate that if clinicians had gained a better understanding of the evolutionary physiology of oxygen, the preventable mortality due to the long standing inappropriate overuse of oxygen in clinical practice might have been avoided. It will be mandatory for clinicians to now change their entrenched practice and administer oxygen according to the available evidence-base.

Evolutionary physiology

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Oxygen: a new look at an old therapy