Thermoreception

thermoreception, sensory process by which different levels of heat energy (temperatures) in the environment and in the body are detected by animals.

Temperature has a profound influence upon living organisms. Animal life is normally feasible only within a narrow range of body temperatures, with the extremes extending from about 0–5 °C (32–41 °F) to about 40–45 °C (104–113 °F). In animals these boundaries are marked by the physical damage imposed by extreme temperatures. For example, living tissue incurs severe damage at low temperatures that cause water to freeze and at high temperatures that cause chemical instability, or denaturation, of proteins.

The following article discusses the influence of environment on thermoreception, the study and properties of thermoreceptors, and thermoreception in invertebrates and vertebrates. For general information on sensory reception, see the article sensory reception. For specific information on the other senses of animals, see the articles photoreception, chemoreception, and mechanoreception.