Comparative physiology in high altitudes

✍ Scribed by Hall, F. G. ;Dill, D. B. ;Barron, E. S. Guzman

• Book ID: 102879018
• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1936
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 615 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0095-9898
• DOI: 10.1002/jcp.1030080302

✦ Synopsis

Altitude is a component of the physical environment to which animals show adjustments. Oxygen pressure and temperature decrease with increasing altitudes, and to both of these factors organisms respond in a variety of ways. As temperature varies with latitude and seasons as well as with altitude, oxygen pressure becomes the more specific factor in the study of effects of high altitudes.

When man first climbs to high altitudes he has many of the sensations experienced in seasickness. He longs for his native habitat, wonders if he will survive the experience, and marvels at the ability of some of his fellows to enjoy food. I n due time, whether the environment is a rolling ship or a lofty mountain, acclimatization usually occurs. The mechanism of the adaptive process in the first case is not understood; in the second case many changes which take place during adaptation are familiar but their significance is not