Circulation, Respiration & Exercise: How does a coupled system cope with changes in demand?

Analyses -

At the start of this laboratory exercise you were asked to answer some ‘compare and contrast' questions associated with heart structure. Then you recorded a series of heart and breathing rates and properties at rest and immediately after exercise. These data (in combination with data collected by the rest of the class) and answers to the questions should help you address questions about respiratory and circulatory function listed below.

1) Why do you think the hearts of chickens and calves show some overall similarities, yet exhibit some novel differences?

2) Plot mean heart and breathing rates over time for students in the class at rest and after each exercise. The x-axis should be in minutes. Are there patterns that emerge? What does the scatter look like? What differences in student phenotype might explain the scatter?

3) Plot breathing rate against heart rate for each exercise trial and resting condition for each 30 second interval. Compare the graphs. Are there any patterns that emerge? What might they tell you about the control of circulation as driven by changing demand for oxygen?

4) The data on R-R, P-T and T-P intervals provide visual insights into how the ventricles are behaving. Are there any patterns that emerge from systematically comparing the averages for rest and at 0, 1, 2, 3 and 10 minutes after the different activities? Are there relationships with these values and heart and breathing rate? Do you see any variation or trends?

5) After answering these four questions, provide an explanation for how the respiratory and circulatory systems are coupled and allow flexible responses to changing energetic and hence gaseous demands while at the same time insuring homeostatic balance over the long-term.

6) This course focuses on ‘chaos and clockwork' and the tension between intelligent and non-intelligent design. From what you've seen of actual hearts and their functioning, discuss the intelligence of the design of artificial hearts that retain heartbeats v. those that do not.

Attachment:- Assignment.rar