Definition of Acclimatization in Sociology

Another surprising feature of acclimatization is its anticipatory nature – it can develop before change occurs. It seems that one should anticipate the need for change to prepare for slow physiological changes, which often begin very suddenly. Anticipating acclimatization seems to require a sense of time that can be used to predict future environmental conditions. The length of the day is an external signal, but it seems to act on intrinsic rhythms that give clues from the inside to the passage of time. Animals respond to stress that involves behavioral, metabolic, and physiological changes at multiple levels of vertebrate organization, from the subcellular to the whole animal (Collar and Gebremedhin, 2015). The systemic response to environmental stress is controlled by two systems – 1) the central nervous system and 2) the peripheral nervous system and endocrine components (Figure 1) (Charmandari et al., 2005). The central component consists of nuclei in the hypothalamus and brain stem that release corticotropin-releasing hormone and arginine vasopressin. Peripheral components of the stress system include the pituitary-adrenal axis, the efferent sympathetic adrenal mat system, and the components of the parasympathetic system (Habib et al., 2001). However, in terms of environmental stressors and acclimatization, the early stages of the response involve receptor systems at the periphery and central receptors in the hypothalamus. Peripheral receptors include skin thermoreceptors and retinal photoreceptors that trigger autonomic and endocrine responses to the changing environment. An interesting feature of seasonal acclimatization occurs in animals and plants that get used to the cold that goes beyond what they are likely to encounter.

Not only does acclimatization prepare them with a margin of safety, but some microorganisms, insects and plants also tolerate experimental exposure to much colder or warmer temperatures than ever before in nature. It seems strange that adaptability allows these organisms to be prepared for conditions beyond their natural experience. Physiological adaptations to cold acclimatization are considered weak and depend on the severity and duration of exposure [40], but according to the experiments of Lazar et al. [31] Cold acclimatization resulted in increased resting metabolism, decreased body temperature drop in acute cold stress, reduced tremors, improved cold-induced vasodilation and thermoregulatory efficiency, and a lower increase in blood pressure and heart rate. In an unacclimatized body, the absence of the above adaptations contributes to the thermophysiological load that occurs in new climatic conditions. A more detailed discussion of the physiological mechanisms responsible for differences in acclimatization processes in the transition from cold to hot and from hot to cold can be found in [41,42]. It is generally believed that acclimatization takes place in two stages; acute or short-term and chronic or long-term (Horowitz, 2002). The acute phase involves the response to heat shock at the cellular level (Carper et al., 1987) and homeostatic endocrine, physiological and metabolic responses at the systemic level, while the chronic or long-term phase leads to acclimatization to stressors sometimes called “conditioning” and involves the reprogramming of gene expression and metabolism (Horowitz, 2002; Collier et al., 2006). In pets, there is usually a loss of production when the animals enter the acute phase, and some or even all of the productivity is restored as the animals get used to the stressors. A variety of environmental factors such as ambient temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity and wind speed are known to have both direct and indirect effects on pets.

Direct effects concern environmental effects on thermoregulation, endocrine system, metabolism, production and reproduction. Indirect impacts include environmental impact on food and water availability, pest and pathogen populations, and immune system resistance to immunological challenges.