To provide an understanding of the physiological processes and underlying mechanisms involved in the regulation of body temperature. Be able to describe and graphically demonstrate the neural mechanisms involved in temperature regulation. The slides I used in the lectures are available too. Some poikilothermic animals can also control their body temperature to some degree by the use of countercurrent exchange systems of warm and cold blood. Animals are believed to control the heat within their body according to temperature rather than heat exchange or total heat content.
Temperature can vary from site to site on the body, and is different in the core than in the shell.
Core temperature is closely maintained at the expense of shell temperature. In order to maintain temperature, total heat loss must equal total heat gain, if mass is not changed. Heat can be gained by increasing metabolic rate , radiation , convection or conduction . The rate of heat loss for convection, conduction and radiation depends upon the temperature gradient between the individual and the environment, the area through which heat loss can occur and the thermal conductivity coefficients for each mode of heat loss. The contributions of each of these mechanisms depends on the external air temperature.