3A: Exchange Flashcards
When substances enter or leave an organism what do they go through?
The plasma membrane (phospholipid bilayer)
What is an exchange surface?
- What do they always include?
Any surface across which substances are transferred is called an exchange surface.
- They always include a cellular membrane
What is a negative of being a multicellular organism?
The distance between the exterior and interior environments are too great for substances to simply diffuse
- This means that multicellular organisms have had to evolve increasingly more intricate systems for exchanging substances with their environment
Give some examples of exchange surfaces in animals (5)
- Alveoli (lungs)
- Capillaries
- Villi (small intestine)
- Synapses
- Large intestine
What substances are exchanged across exchange surfaces?
- Oxygen
- Carbon Dioxide
- Water
- Glucose
- Fatty acids
- Amino acids
- Vitamins
- Minerals
- Urea
- Heat
(Apart from heat) substances can be exchanged in 2 ways, what are they?
- Passively (no metabolic energy required) by diffusion and osmosis
- Actively (metabolic energy required) by active transport
How do you calculate SA : V?
SA/V = _ : 1
What are the 5 common traits of exchange surfaces?
- Large SA:V
- Very thin so diffusion can occur across a short distance
- Selectively permeable - control which substances enter/ exit
- Movement of environment to the medium
- A transport system to move internal medium
Give 2 examples of animal exchange surfaces
- Vili
2. Alveoli
Give an example of an exchange surface in a plant
Root hair cell
What advantages do unicellular organisms have involving exchange surfaces?
- Substances are able to diffuse across the cell membrane due to the small distance between interior and exterior environments
- High SA:V
In insects, the increase in surface area required for gas exchange conflicts with what?
Conflicts with conserving water.
= because water will evaporate from it
What are the features of an insects (tracheal) gas exchange system?
- Tracheae
- Tracheoles
- Spiracles
Describe the tracheae in insects
- Internal network of tubes
- Supported and strengthened by rings to prevent them from collapsing
- Divide into smaller dead- end tubes called tracheoles
Describe the tracheoles in insects
- Dead-end tubes
- Extend throughout all the body tissues of the insect
- Short diffusion pathway from a tracheole to any body cell
Describe how gases move in and out of an insect along a diffusion gradient
- Cell respiration uses O₂ up and so its conc. decreases towards the end of the tracheoles
- This creates a diffusion gradient that causes oxygen to diffuse from the tracheae and the tracheoles into cells
- Cell respiration produces CO₂
- This creates a diffusion gradient in the opposite direction: CO₂ diffuses from the cells to the tracheoles and tracheae
- Diffusion in the air is faster than in water, gases are exchanged quickly by this method
Describe how gases move in and out of an insect using mass transport
The contraction of muscles in insects can squeeze the trachea enabling mass movements of air in and out.
- This further speeds up the exchange of respiratory gases
What are the 3 methods insects use to exchange gases?
- Mass transport
- Diffusion gradient
- Ends of the tracheoles being filled with water
Describe how the ends of the tracheoles being filled with water enables insects to exchange gases (oxygen debt)
- During periods of major activity, the muscle cells around the tracheoles respire and carry out some anaerobic respiration.
- Produces lactic acid = insoluble and lowers WP in cells
- The water at the ends of the tracheoles decreases in volume (as it is drawn into the cells) which leaves more room for oxygen (which is also drawn into the cells)
- Means that the final diffusion pathway is in a gas rather than a liquid phase = diffusion is more rapid
- This increases the rate at which air is moved in the tracheoles but leads to greater water evaporation
In insects, gases enter/ exit tracheae through tiny pores - what are these called?
Spiracles
How can the spiracles in an insect be opened and closed?
By a valve
Describe what happens to water vapour when the spiracles are open
Water vapour can evaporate from the insect
Most of the time insects keep their spiracles closed, why do they do this?
To prevent water loss.
- They periodically open their spiracles to allow gas exchange.
What are some limitations of the tracheal system in insects
- It relies mostly on diffusion to exchange gases between the environment and the cells
- For diffusion to be effective the pathway needs to be short = which is why insects are small
- As a result the length of the diffusion pathway limits the size the insect can be.
What does the diffusion pathway need to be like to make diffusion effective?
The pathway must be short. This is why insects are small
Describe the outer covering of a fish
Waterproof and therefore gas proof
What is the SA:V of fish like?
Because they are relatively large they have a small SA:V
What do gills consist of?
Gill filaments
Describe the gill filaments
Stacked up in a pile (like the pages in a book)
Where are the gill lamellae in relation to the filaments?
At right angles to the filaments
What do the gill lamellae do to the SA of the gills?
They increase the SA of the gills
Describe the movement of water through a fish
Water is taken in through the mouth and forced over the gills and out through an opening on each side of the body.
What can the flow of water over the gill lamellae and the flow of blood be described as?
A countercurrent flow
- They flow in opposite directions
What is the countercurrent flow important for?
It is important for ensuring that the maximum possible gas exchange is achieved.
What would gas exchange (in fish) be like if blood and water flowed in the same direction?
Far less gas exchange would take place if blood and water flowed in the same direction
What is the countercurrent exchange principle?
Blood and water flow over the gill lamellae in opposite directions
What does the countercurrent flow mean for oxygenated blood?
Blood near 100% O2 saturation meets water at 100% O2 saturation
= Oxygen diffuses from the water to the blood
What does the countercurrent flow mean for deoxygenated blood?
- Blood with 0% O₂ saturation meets water with an O₂ saturation of near 0%
= Diffusion of O₂ from the water to blood takes place
Countercurrent flow results in a diffusion gradient of __1__being maintained across the entire __2__of the __3__
1- oxygen
2- width
3- gill lamellae
Countercurrent flow results in a diffusion gradient of which substance?
Oxygen
What does the countercurrent flow mean for the diffusion of oxygen? What does this result in?
- A diffusion gradient is maintained across the entire gill lamellae
- As a result around 80% of the oxygen available in the water is absorbed by the fish
What would concurrent (parallel) flow mean for the diffusion of oxygen? What would this result in?
- A diffusion gradient is maintained for only half of the distance across the gill lamellae
- Only 50% of the oxygen from the water diffuses into the blood
What does the volumes and types of gases that are being exchanged by plants depend on?
The balance between the rates of photosynthesis and respiration.
Describe the trachea
- A flexible tube supported by many cartilaginous rings.
- Rings allow the trachea to stay open when inhalation causes the air pressure in the tube decreased.
- The trachea wall is made up of muscle and lined with ciliated epithelial cells and goblet cells
- Where are goblet cells found?
- What are their function?
- In the tracheal wall
- They produce mucus
- Where are the ciliated epithelial cells found?
- What are their function?
- In the tracheal wall
- They waft the mucus up out of the lungs
Describe the lungs
- A pair of lobed structures
- Made up from a series of highly branched tubes (bronchioles)
What is the function of mucus (in the trachea)?
- Traps dirt and particles etc. and stops them from entering the lungs
Describe the bronchioles
- Within the structure of the lungs
- Heavily branched to carry air to all the parts of the lungs
- Their walls are made up of muscles which allows them to regulate the flow of air into and out of the alveoli by contraction of the pipes
Describe the alveoli
- Minute air sacs which measure 100- 300μm across
- Positioned at the ends of the bronchioles
- Can stretch to pull air in (collagen and elastic fibres help to do this) and spring back to expel co2
Describe 6 key adaptations for gas exchange at the alveoli
how they have evolved to function
- Red blood cells are slowed as they pass through the narrow capillaries, increasing time for diffusion
- Red blood cells are flattened against the capillary walls reducing diffusion pathway
- Both alveoli + capillaries have very thin walls
- Alveoli + capillaries have a massive shred surface area
- Breathing movements keep the lungs ventilated, replacing the external medium
- The flow of blood maintains the conc. gradients for exchange
List the features of the human respiratory system (in order of air coming in)
Larynx Trachea Bronchi Bronchioles Alveoli --> capillaries
What is the space around the lungs called?
The pleural space
What are the membranes around the lungs called?
The pleural membranes
What is the thorax?
Chest area
- Inside it is called the thoracic cavity
Describe inspiration (breathing in)
- The external intercostal muscles contract, while the internal intercostal muscle relax
- The ribs are pulled upwards and outwards = increases the volume of the thorax
- Diaphragm muscles contract, it flattens = increases the volume of the thorax
- Increased vol of thorax = lower pressure in the lungs
- Atmospheric pressure is now greater than the pressure inside the lungs –> so the air is then forced into the lungs
Describe expiration
- The internal intercostal muscles relax, while the intercostal muscle contract
- The ribs are pulled downwards and inwards = decreases the volume of the thorax
- Diaphragm muscles relax, so its pushed up again by the contents of the abdomen that were compressed during inspiration. The vol of the thorax is further decreased
- Decreased vol of thorax = higher pressure in the lungs
- Pulmonary pressure is now greater than the atmospheric pressure –> so the air is forced out of the lungs
How can the relationship between internal and external extra coastal muscles be described?
Antagonistic
Why are the lungs located inside the body?
- Air is not dense enough to support and protect these delicate structures
- Water loss could not be regulated, so the body would lose a lot of water and dry out
- Pollutants and pathogens could
What is the function of the ribcage?
To protect the lungs
- Can be moved by the (intercostal) muscles between them
State 2 reasons why humans need to absorb large volumes of oxygen from the lungs.
Any 2 from:
- Humans are large/ have a large volume of cells
- Humans have a high metabolic rate
- Humans have a high body temp