preview

Gas Exchange: Leopard Frogs

Decent Essays

Gas exchange is a bodily process in which gases are carried to and from specific organs designated for respiratory demands. In amphibians this process is essential to proper metabolic function (Amarasekare & Coutinho, 2014). One such amphibians, Rana pipiens, also known as leopard frogs, have two unique processes in which gas exchange occurs. The leopard frog is equipped with lungs which completes respiration in the blood. This process is aided by the Pulmocutaneous artery. This is an arch located next to the three-chambered heart which supplies the blood to the lungs, averts deoxygenated away from the heart to both the lungs and the skin of the frog. In this process the artery branches into two separate arteries. The first branch is called the Pulmonary artery. …show more content…

During pulmonary ventilation, the movement of air from the environment to the lungs of the organism, the frog will hold its breath for periods of time before taking another breath. This sequence of breathing is relative to the motion of the frog. Therefore, if the frog is at rest then the breathing is slowed and if the frog is in motion then its breathing is be more rapid. The pulmonary artery has the ability to alter the amount of blood flow to the lungs depending on the amounts of gases needed (Tattersall, Currie, & Le Blanc, 2013). The second branch is called the cutaneous artery which is in charge of supplying blood to the skin. The location of cutaneous gas exchange occurs across the surface of the skin and oxygenates the blood from the cutaneous artery. The leopard frog benefits greatly by using the cutaneous gas exchange in conjunction with the gas exchange performed in the

Get Access