Illusion and reality in comparative physiology

Abstract

The dominant role of comparative physiology (syn. experimental zoology) in the recent history of animal biology is noted. Its objectives, e.g. of contributing to knowledge of phylogenetic relationships and of discovering the origins of physiological functions, are considered to have been largely illusory when the data are examined. It is argued that in reality comparative physiology is concerned only with the description of adaptations, albeit at a sophisticated technical and conceptual level compared with natural history or general morphology. Comparative physiology has not produced any special theory or general explanation for physiological adaptation going beyond Darwin's general theory of natural selection.