Animal Physiology
(to combined 2nd year Biology Honours and 3rd year General students). An introductory course in animal physiology. The course illustrated two main fields: Environmental physiology (gas exchange) and regulatory physiology (nerve action). Syllabus: Respiration in water and air, in insects, fish, amphibians, birds and mammals. Transport of oxygen and carbon dioxide by blood. Circulation. Resting and action potentials of excitable cells. Synaptic integration. Sensory receptor mechanisms and sense organs. Hormones and neuroendocrine control.- Extracts from course handbook
Experimental Zoology
(to 3rd year Biology Honours students). This course was designed to develop the themes of Animal Physiology to consider the use of oxygen for the release of energy in metabolism, and the conversion of energy into physical work by muscles under nervous control. Syllabus: Resting metabolism and scaling with body mass. Sources of metabolic heat in endotherms. Aerobic and anaerobic metabolism in exercise and anoxia. Evolution of endothermy. Structure and function of vertebrate skeletal muscle. Mechanical proprties of muscle. Cardiac and smooth muscle. Control of vertebrate and arthropod muscles.- Extracts from course handbook
Ecological Animal Physiology
(to 3rd year Biology Honours students). This new course was designed to link Animal Physiology with areas of ecology such as foraging and life history. Syllabus: Temperature and its physiological effects. Processes of heat exchange. Tolerance adaptations and acclimation. Behavioural and physiological thermoregulation in ectotherms. Regulation in endotherms and heterotherms. A simple model of optimal foraging. Digestion in herbivores. Optimizing digestion. Productive uses of energy; growth, storage and reproduction. Energy use in respiration. Energy budgets; energetics of ectotherms and endotherms compared.- Extracts from course handbook
Projects
I also supervised undergraduate student research projects on diet selection in tortoises, thermoregulation in amphisbaenians and in grasshoppers, and metabolism of parasitic nematodes, and an M.Sc. Tropical Resource Ecology project on niche relationships of lizards. Some of these were published:Hailey & Elliot (1995) was from the project of Michele Elliot, a Scripps-Pitzer exchange student from the USA.
Hailey, Chidavaenzi & Loveridge (1998) and Hailey, Coulson & Chidavaenzi (1997) included material from the B.Sc. project of Robstein Chidavaenzi.
Howard & Hailey (1999) was from the M.Sc. project of Karen Howard.
