Learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• define and use, or recognise definitions and applications of each of the bold terms

• outline the special features of the polar regions as a habitat and list some contrasts between the Arctic and the Antarctic

• describe some effects of daylength on feeding, fat deposition and reproduction in arctic animals

• explain why the environmental controls of appetite, activity level and fecundity are essential adaptations to living at high latitudes and describe some physiological mechanisms involved

• describe some adaptations of fuel metabolism and bone formation to dormancy in bears.