Week 2: Alveolar Ventilation, Ventilatory and Metabolic Dynamics, Comparative Pulmonary Function

This week covers the factors that determine alveolar ventilation, the alveolar gas equation, dead space, the ventilatory and metabolic responses during rest, exercise onset, and steady-state exercise, and a comparative case study on the diversity of vertebrate lung structure.

Lectures

• Lecture 4: Factors in Alveolar Ventilation (33 slides) Alveolar ventilation equation, anatomical and physiological dead space, factors affecting gas exchange efficiency.

• Lecture 5: Ventilatory and Metabolic Dynamics in Rest and Exercise (29 slides) Ventilatory responses to exercise, oxygen consumption, CO₂ production, respiratory exchange ratio, and metabolic transitions.

• Lecture 6: Comparative Pulmonary Function (22 slides) Diversity of vertebrate lung structure and its relationship with endurance exercise capacity; the avian parabronchial lung with unidirectional airflow and crosscurrent gas exchange; respiratory evolution in the archosaur lineage (birds, crocodilians, dinosaurs).