Costa Daniel P, Sinervo Barry
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA.
Annu Rev Physiol. 2004;66:209-38. doi: 10.1146/annurev.physiol.66.032102.114245.
Whereas comparative physiology documents the range of physiological variation across a range of organisms, field physiology provides insight into the actual mechanisms an organism employs to maintain homeostasis in its everyday life. This requires an understanding of an organism's natural history and is prerequisite to developing hypotheses about physiological mechanisms. This review focuses on a few areas of field physiology that exemplify how the underlying physiology could not have been understood without appropriate field measurements. The examples we have chosen highlight the methods and inference afforded by an application of this physiological analysis to organismal function in nature, often in extreme environments. The specific areas examined are diving physiology, the thermal physiology of large endothermic fishes, reproductive physiology of air breathing vertebrates, and endocrine physiology of reproductive homeostasis. These areas form a bridge from physiological ecology to evolutionary ecology. All our examples revolve around the central issue of physiological limits as they apply to organismal homeostasis. We view this theme as the cornerstone of physiological analysis and supply a number of paradigms on homeostasis that have been tested in the context of field physiology.
比较生理学记录了一系列生物体的生理变异范围，而野外生理学则深入了解生物体在日常生活中维持体内平衡所采用的实际机制。这需要了解生物体的自然史，并且是提出关于生理机制假设的先决条件。本综述聚焦于野外生理学的几个领域，这些领域例证了若没有适当的野外测量，就无法理解其潜在的生理学。我们所选的例子突出了将这种生理分析应用于自然界中生物体功能（通常是在极端环境下）所提供的方法和推断。所研究的具体领域包括潜水生理学、大型恒温鱼类的热生理学、空气呼吸脊椎动物的生殖生理学以及生殖稳态的内分泌生理学。这些领域构成了从生理生态学通向进化生态学的桥梁。我们所有的例子都围绕着生理极限这一核心问题展开，因为它们适用于生物体的体内平衡。我们将这一主题视为生理分析的基石，并提供了一些在野外生理学背景下经过检验的体内平衡范式。
