Sample Questions for Exam #1

Animal Physiology - Biology 345


1) Let us assume that the minimum oxygen partial pressure necessary to sustain human life is 0.09 atm. Using the information below, estimate to the nearest 1000m the maximum altitude at which a human could exist if he/she were breathing dry air.

                    Altitude                                                          Atmospheric Pressure

                    sea level                                                                     1.0 atm

                    4,000m                                                                      0.6 atm

                    8,000m                                                                      0.3 atm

                  12,000m                                                                      0.2 atm

                  16,000m                                                                      0.1 atm

               Temperature                              Water vapor press. at 100% relative humidity

                    0°C                                                                          0.006 atm

                  20°C                                                                          0.023 atm

                  37°C                                                                          0.062 atm

                  40°C                                                                          0.073 atm

2) You go out for an evening run. Pretty soon you exceed the ability of your circulatory system to supply your leg muscles with sufficient oxygen. What processes are occurring in your muscles? Describe the metabolic pathways and cycles involved.

3) Discuss the reactions by which metabolic CO2 is removed from mammalian tissues by the blood and is given off in the lungs. You may use diagrams to illustrate your discussion.

4) Cary Catastrophe has just had a rather severe mishap with a meat cleaver, and by the time the rescue squad arrives, he has lost a half liter of blood. Describe the systemic regulatory mechanisms which will come into play as his circulatory system tries to compensate for the blood loss.

5) Describe Starling's hypothesis. How does this explain plasma movements into and out of capillaries?


return to Bio 345 Syllabus

revised 27 June 1997