Comparative Perspectives on Maximal O₂ and CO₂ Transport in Animals

Symposium — Monday, April 23, 2024 — 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM — Convention Center, Room 25C
Comparative & Evolutionary Physiology Section — Chair: Michael Hedrick — Co-Chair:

This symposium will highlight recent work on the comparative physiology of maximal oxygen and carbon dioxide transport in animals. Maximal rates of O₂ and CO₂ transport vary widely amongst animals that use a variety of locomotor modes including swimming, crawling, running and flying. Regardless of locomotor style, maximal rates of O₂ consumption are supported by increased conductive and diffusive fluxes of oxygen from the environment to the mitochondria; maximal rates of CO₂ efflux from the mitochondria to the environment must also be matched to oxygen flux. The extent to which increased conductive and diffusive fluxes limit maximal O₂ and CO₂ transport, or whether the limits to maximal rates of transport differ for O₂ and CO₂, remains to be established among various groups of animals. Symposium speakers will highlight various aspects of maximal O₂ and CO₂ transport and provide insight into how evolution has shaped the gas transport architecture and physiological processes in a variety of animals.

Speakers

• What limits cardiac output in vertebrates?
  William Joyce — Department of Bioscience, University of Aarhus


• Getting to the heart of the matter: oxygen supply and demand in fish.
  Georgina Cox — Department of Pharmacology, University of Pennsylvania


• Maximum gas exchange rates: Lessons from across the vertebrate spectrum.
  James Hicks — Center for Exercise and Sports Sciences, University of California-Irvine


• CHAIR
  Michael Hedrick —