ENERGY METABOLISM, STRESS, IMMUNITY - THE DEVELOPMENT OF POPULATION PHYSIOLOGY

摘要

This review shows that interactions between population ecology and animal physiology positively affect the scientific directions that are important fields of modern zoology. Due to progress in the development of telemetry and non-invasive methods to assess the animal state, as well as of molecular-genetic methods that permit to distinguish the markers reflecting the history of an individual, the possibilities of studying the responses of an organism to environmental impacts have greatly expanded. The combined use of traditional ecological and modern physiological, immunological, and molecular-genetic methods helps reveal the mechanisms responsible for the stable existence of a population in a dynamic environment. In addition, an analysis of the contribution of physiological and immunological processes to the formation of adaptations at the population level is a requirement to understand their adaptive importance, which is not always evident when considering the problem at the organism-centric level.