Chapter 15 Outline
The Organization and Evolution of Nervous Systems
- Nervous systems consist of neurons organized into functional circuits
- Many types of animals have evolved complex nervous systems
- BOX 15.1 Genomics and the Evolution of Nervous Systems
The Vertebrate Nervous System: A Guide to the General Organizational Features of Nervous Systems
- Nervous systems have central and peripheral divisions
- The central nervous system controls physiology and behavior
- Five principles of functional organization apply to all mammalian and most vertebrate brains
- BOX 15.2 Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Scott A. Huettel
- The peripheral nervous system has somatic and autonomic divisions that control different parts of the body
- The autonomic nervous system has three divisions
Biological Clocks
- Organisms have endogenous rhythms
- BOX 15.3 Sleep, David S. Garbe
- Biological clocks generate endogenous rhythms
- Control by biological clocks has adaptive advantages
- Endogenous clocks correlate with natural history and compensate for temperature
- Clock mechanisms are based on rhythms of gene expression
- The loci of biological clock functions vary among animals
- Circannual and circatidal clocks: Some endogenous clocks time annual or tidal rhythms
- Interval, or “hourglass,” timers can time shorter intervals