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Physiology has traditionally been divided into plant physiology and animal physiology but the principles of physiology are universal, no matter what particular organism is being studied. For example, what is learned about the physiology of yeast cell can also apply to human cells.
The field of animal physiology extends the tools and methods of human physiology to non-human animal species. Plant physiology also borrows techniques from both fields. Its scope of subjects is at least as diverse as the tree of life itself. Due to this diversity of subjects, research in animal physiology tends to concentrate on understanding how physiological traits changed throughout the evolutionary history of animals.
Other major branches of scientific study that have grown out of physiology research include biochemistry, biophysics, biomechanics, and pharmacology.
Physiology has several independent subdivisions. ElectrophysiologyElectrophysiology is the science and branch of physiology that pertains to the flow of ions in biological tissues and, in particular, to the electrical recording techniques that enable the measurement of this flow. These include so-called passive recordin deals with the operation of nerveA nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of nerve fibers or axons, which includes the glia that ensheath the axons in myelin. Neurons are sometimes called nerve cells though this term is technically imprecise since many neurons do not form nerves. Nervess and muscleskeletal muscle Muscle is one of the four tissue types. The other three types are: epithelium, connective tissue and nervous tissue. The primary purpose of muscle tissue is to contract. Muscle contraction is used to move parts of the body, as well as to ms; neurophysiologyNeurophysiology is a part of physiology as a science, which is concerned with the study of the nervous system. It is closely connected with psychology, neurology, clinical neurophysiology, electrophysiology, ethology, higher nervous activity and other sci concerns the physiology of brainFor other articles about other subjects named brain see brain (disambiguation). In the anatomy of animals, the brain or encephalon is the supervisory center of the nervous system. Although the brain is usually cited as the supervisory center of vertebrates and cell physiology addresses the functioning of individual cellstained for keratin The cell is the structural and functional unit of all living organisms. Some organisms, such as bacteria, are unicellular, consisting of a single cell. Other organisms, such as humans, are multicellular, (humans have an estimated 100,0s.
Physiology also has many related and allied fields: Ecophysiology tries to understand how physiological traits affect the ecology of a given animal or plant and vice-versa. Genetics is not the only factor that affects the physiology of animals and plants. Environmental strains wreak havoc on eukaryotic organisms as well. For organisms that do not dwell in aquatic habitat s, water must be stored within their cellular environments. In organisms such as these, dehydration becomes a major issue.
Dehydration in humans can occur during elevated physical activity. Within the field of exercise physiology, studies have been conducted that show the effects of dehydration on homeostasis.