Epitheleous Exchange

The two body organ systems involved in gas exchange are the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. O2 and CO2 cross the cell membrane via simple diffusion. Because cells all throughout the body require oxygen and the removal of carbon dioxide, this simple method of diffusion is the best way to transport such small molecules over a large area as efficiently as possible.

Some plants and animals have to adapt to the amount of oxygen and visibility underwater. For example, plants have adapted to the amount of sunlight they receive in certain environments, and cattails and water lilies have adapted to be able to survive humid climates. For animals, certain fish like trout have adapted to clear and cool water with a large amount of oxygen. On the other hand, other types of fish, like catfish, are able to survive in an area with a low oxygen level and gloomy visibility. Since otters live on the land surrounding the water, they have adapted to be able to swim to catch their food. Frogs and alligators have adapted to their environment by being able to live on the land after coming from underwater as an egg. Lastly, beavers have adapted to use their teeth to create the dams they live

Gas exchange is when oxygen is delivered from the lungs to the blood stream and carbon dioxide is taken out of the bloodstream and into the lungs. Gas exchange occurs within the lungs between the alveoli and capillaries which are in the walls of the alveoli. The walls of the alveoli share a membrane with the capillaries in which oxygen and carbon dioxide move freely between the respiratory system and the bloodstream. Oxygen molecules attach to red blood cells, which travel back to the heart. At the same time, the carbon dioxide in the alveoli are exhaled out of the body.

First the air that’s breathed in travels down the trachea, into the lungs, through the bronchioles and into tiny air sacs called alveoli. The oxygen in the alveoli diffuses into the capillaries, where there’s a lower concentration of oxygen. The thin walls of the capillaries allow the oxygen to diffuse through into the blood. The circulatory system then carries the blood around the body, supplying cells with the oxygen required for energy; allowing them to function. Glucose is also needed, which comes from the digestive system. Glucose is made from the sugary or starchy foods consumed. It start off in the mouth where the salivary glands produce saliva, which contains amylase which breaks down the sugars and starch. It then travels to the stomach, where it’s mixed with other enzymes and fluids, becoming a mixture known as chyme. Chyme, then travels to the small intestine where there are tiny, finger-like structures called villi on the surface walls of the intestine. Villi, are one cell thick making it easy to absorb particles, such as glucose, into the blood from the chyme which is passing through the small intestine. Once in the bloodstream, the circulatory system transports the glucose to cells to be used for energy.

There is a small amount of carbon dioxide and more oxygen in the body because of gases exchange this is where oxygen form the lungs is transferred in to the blood and carried to the heart and when carbon dioxide is carried in to the lungs forms the blood and is exacted outwards by breathing. Mitochondria also need oxygen to create carbon dioxide for the body so the gas exchange can happen again. Outside the body there is a smaller amount of oxygen but it is still higher than CO2.

12. Aquatic _______ are in a double bind, because their demand for oxygen increases as the temperature of their environment increases, but the oxygen content of water declines with increasing water temperatures.

Aquatic environments require different methods for adaptation. The pressure in water increases as depth increases and aquatic organisms have to deal with it. Mobility of small animals versus larger ones help the ones with greater SA:V flow or be moved by currents, which is a disadvantage for bigger animals that have to constantly move. Light limitations also affect living things in water, mostly plants because they have to photosynthesize to grow, and the attenuation of light increases in depth, they have to take advantage of other resources to get the light they need and the nutrients to survive. Salt tolerance is vital; the process of osmosis moves water from high concentration of solutes to low concentration of solutes, if an organism doesn’t have enough salt contents starts losing water and dehydrates

One example is aquatic life. Animals use up dissolved oxygen to carry out respiration for cellular processes and bacteria use up oxygen to decompose and break down organic wastes removing oxygen from the water to breathe. Therefore dissolved oxygen levels are lower when a body of water contains a lot of decomposing material. Plants also affect dissolved oxygen content as they release oxygen as a bi product of photosynthesis.

The respiratory system is a complex organ structure of the human body anatomy, and the primary purpose of this system is to supply the blood with oxygen in order for the blood vessels to carry the precious gaseous element to all parts of the body to accomplish cell respiration. The respiratory system completes this important function of breathing throughout inspiration. In the breathing process inhaling oxygen is essential for cells to metabolize nutrients and carry out some other tasks, but it must occur simultaneously with exhaling when the carbon dioxide is excreted, this exchange of gases is the respiratory system's means of getting oxygen to the blood (McGowan, Jefferies & Turley, 2004).

Some species might thrive in conditions that other struggle to survive. For example some predators might need more oxygen then a smaller prey. With less predators being around, there is a huge burst in prey, which can eat up all of the bacteria. When the bacteria all die, the prey can’t find any food and all die out. This causes a very unreliable food chain and can be dangerous to live in. In hypoxic zones what tends to happen is that marine life such as fish or shrimp die out quickly while the smaller organisms live. This causes whole species to die out leaving a dominance of gelatinous creatures such as jellyfish to thrive in.

They have gills covered by an operculum that increases respiratory efficiency by creating negative pressure that both draws and pushes water across the gills. They have a gas-filled pouch for gas exchange in low-oxygen environments that contributes to buoyancy. A few species use diffusion across their skin.

Small air sacks called alveoli are at the tips of the bronchioles. When air reaches them, the oxygen concentration is high, which causes diffusion into red blood cells travelling through pulmonary capillaries (7). The red blood cells then distribute the new oxygen to the rest of the body. When they reach the alveoli again, they exchange carbon dioxide (a form of cell waste) for new oxygen, and repeat the process. The carbon dioxide is moved through the bronchioles, bronchi, and trachea in the form of exhalation.

Within the alveoli, the oxygen is transferred to the blood whilst simultaneously collecting waste carbon dioxide for excretion as we breath out. This transference is known as diffusion and is linked to the cardiovascular system.

All organisms require a large surface area in their gas exchange system, having a larger surface area to volume ratio increases the efficiency on gas exchange. Each of the 3 organisms, diving mammal, fish and aquatic insects all have a large surface area and have different ways of increasing this. Diving mammals increase their surface area by folding the tissue on the alveoli of the gas exchange mechanism fold back on itself, these fold in the alveoli increase the surface area. Fish have filaments and lamellae in the gills which are very long and thing increasing the surface area to volume ratio. The filaments in the gills fold copious times and then the lamellae found inside the filaments also found numerous times increasing the surface area

Air enters your lungs through a system of pipes called the bronchi. These pipes start from the bottom of the trachea as the left and right bronchi and branch many times throughout the lungs, until they eventually form little thin-walled air sacs or bubbles, known as the alveoli. The alveoli are where the important work of gas exchange takes place between the air and your blood. Covering each alveolus is a whole network of little blood vessel called capillaries, which are very small branches of the pulmonary arteries. It is important that the air in the alveoli and the blood in the capillaries are very close together, so that oxygen and carbon dioxide can move (or diffuse) between them. So, when you breathe in, air comes down the trachea and through the bronchi into