Albert Cho 106642 91604

Sweat glands are tubular structures in the skin that secretes sweat. Perspiration is the function
of sweat glands where the sweat produced will evaporate from the skins surface.
In context of the Coast to Coast assessment resource, Eccrine glands are major sweat glands
that the human body has and is found in typically everywhere on the human body. When the
external conditions reaches a certain temperature the internal body (nervous system) by
stimulating the eccrine glands and therefore producing sweat effectively. Then the sweat on skin
evaporates from liquid to gas, this process is called evaporative cooling
Homeostasis comes from 2 greek words. Homeo which means similar and stasis meaning
stable. Homeostasis is the process that maintains a stable internal condition. An example of
homeostasis is thermoregulation. Thermoregulation is the process and ability of the body to
maintain a core internal temperature and this has relation to the process of sweating.
The main component involved in thermoregulation for humans is the hypothalamus. The
hypothalamus is located just above the brainstem and below the thalamus and is the main
control system for the human body.
Humans need thermoregulation as a way to cool off after raising their internal core temperature
or they will suffer from things like heatstroke or heat exhaustion. Being too cold can also cause
athletes to suffer from hypothermia.
The Coast to Coast mountain race is held annually in Kumara on the west coast and athletes
must run, kayak and cycle to Sumner Beach on the east coast near Christchurch. This journey
can take from 11-17 hours. The fluid intake required to completed this event is enormous (10+
litres).
In Stage 4 of the Coast to Coast, the athletes will have to journey from Waimakariri Gorge to
Sumner Beach on the road going down hill. The temperature is at 35 degrees which is
considered to be a hot environment especially with a high wind speed of 60 km/h. Because of
this kind of external condition, some athletes will face the risk of having a heat stroke which is
the result of extreme exercise combined with a long duration of being in high temperatures.
Particularly in stage 4 because they would have already completed the 3 stages (exercise). To
try and prevent this the receptors inside the skin will detect the change in temperature of 16
degrees (in stage 3) to 35 degrees and the receptors will relay this message to the
hypothalamus. Therefore the hypothalamus will then detect the changes and trigger the
effectors (sweat glands) thus the athletes will automatically start to sweat to maintain the core
internal temperature. The sweating will slow when the internal temperature is close to
equilibrium. Also the control system will instruct the capillaries under the skin to dilate (open
more) to increase the blood flow therefore allowing our body to release heat through radiation.
However in the unfortunate event that heat stroke does occur, it will inflict damage to the brain
and the internal organs. As the core temperature reaches 40 degrees (104 fahrenheit) the rate
the blood is flowing through the brain will be reduced therefore the hypothalamus will not

function properly therefore no longer responding to the changes in external temperature. Then
damaged tissues will enter the bloodstream causing kidney failure. At 49 degrees (120
fahrenheit) the heat can destroy body cells through direct heat causing the proteins to denature.
A potential disruption of the control system
In Stage 2 of the Coast to Coast, the athletes will journey at external temperatures of -3 degrees
at wind speeds of 30km/h with hail and rain. Without a doubt the athletes will feel cold and can
begin to have a fever so hypothalamus will detect this change in external temperature due to the
skin receptors. This makes the hypothalamus set the thermoregulatory set point higher. The
athlete's control system will instruct the capillaries to constrict resulting in lower blood flow in
other words, vasoconstriction.The blood will move more towards the internal organs rather than
under the skin to reduce heat loss. Also to reduce heat loss the body will send nerve impulses to
the skin effector therefore the tiny muscles cells in the skin can pull the hair on the skin up to
trap the heat as effectively as it can. The body will start shivering when the body temperatures
still do not recover from vasoconstriction. To heat up the body temperature the hypothalamus
will set a higher hypothalamic set point therefore triggers the skeletal muscle effector and will
cause the muscles to involuntarily contract which makes us shiver. The shivering is a form of
generating energy into heat through kinetic energy and friction therefore the body temperature
increases physiologically. Once the body temperature is successfully raised to the set point, the
setpoint will return to the normal point (37 degrees).
One of the adaptive advantage of having a thermoregulation for humans is that if there was to
have a rapid climate change (one that can be adaptable to humans), most of humans would
survive due to its control system and the ability to adapt to the new climate change, not to
mention the behavioural side (brain) that can tell us to wear a coat if the climate is now cold and
to take off clothes if hot. This is significant because without this, we could potentially be
vulnerable to losing a big part of the human population therefore the gene pool could lose a lot
of important alleles. Some dominant alleles could be lost forever or take a long time to get back.

Also we dont have competition with organisms that depend on external conditions so while
ectotherms will have to stay in a strict habitat we can adapt easily to pretty much any condition
unless our body cannot return our body temperature back to normal. This can also link with the
idea that in a climate change, the survivability of humans are much greater than to ectotherms.