Biology › Hormonal communication, plant responses and homeostasis

Hormonal communication, plant responses and homeostasis

Unit B15 · 6 lessons.

Notes

Illustrated notes for each topic in this unit, with worked examples and a checklist of objectives.

• Hormonal communication and negative feedback
  Exocrine and endocrine glands, the hypothalamus and the two lobes of the pituitary, why a peptide hormone needs a second messenger and a steroid…
• Regulation of blood glucose and diabetes mellitus
  The normal blood glucose concentration and where glucose comes from, the islets of Langerhans, insulin and glucagon and their effects on the liver…
• Osmoregulation and kidney function
  The structure of a nephron, ultrafiltration and the basement membrane, selective reabsorption at the proximal convoluted tubule, the loop of Henle as…
• The liver: detoxification, deamination and the making of urea
  Excretion defined and separated from egestion; the liver's hepatic artery, hepatic portal vein and hepatic vein; the lobule with its sinusoids…
• Thermoregulation in endotherms and ectotherms
  Why enzymes make core temperature worth controlling, peripheral thermoreceptors in the skin against central ones in the hypothalamus, the effectors…
• Plant responses: tropisms, auxins and the classic experiments
  Tropisms and how they are named, the classic coleoptile experiments and the single conclusion each supports, auxin and cell elongation through wall…