how can hibernation help an organism maintain homeostasis

Biology · High School · Mon Jan 18 2021

Answered on

Explanation:  Homeostasis is continued in hibernation, as evidenced by a normal blood pH, a sensitivity to inspired CO2, and a response to ambient temperature below 0 C. by increased metabolic rate. At any time during entrance into hibernation or during hibernation the animal may arouse from this condition. Arousal is a coordinated physiologic event in which the anterior of the body is warmed rapidly by shivering and other heat generating mechanisms, while warmed blood is shunted from the posterior by differential vasoconstriction until the anterior reaches nearly 37 C. The tissues and organs of mammals that hibernate are capable of useful function at lower temperatures than the tissues of mammals that do not hibernate, but a hypothermed mammal that can hibernate will die in hypothermia even though it lives longer and at a lower temperature than a mammal that can not hibernate. Hibernation must involve a resetting of the "physiologic thermostat," which thus permits a controlled cooling of the animal, but the nature of this "resetting" is not known. 

Related Questions