3A - Gas exchange Flashcards
What are the main adaptations of gas exchange surfaces?
Large SA.
Thin - short diffusion pathway.
Steep concentration gradient.
Where do single-celled organisms exchange gases?
Across their body.
How do single-celled organisms absorb and release gases?
By diffusion through their outer surface.
Why is there no need for a gas exchange system in single-celled organisms?
Large SA.
Thin - short diffusion pathway.
(Oxygen can take part in biochemical reactions as soon as it diffuses into the cell).
Why system do fish use for exchange?
Counter-current.
Is there a lower concentration of oxygen in air or water?
Water.
Where does water containing oxygen enter and leave a fish?
Enters through the mouth and leaves through the gills.
What is each gill made out of?
Lots of thin plates called gill filaments.
What are the adaptations of gill filaments?
Large SA for gas exchange.
What are gill filaments covered in?
Lamellae.
What do lamellae do?
Increase SA.
What do lamellae have that increases gas exchange?
Lots of blood capillaries and a thin surface layer of cells to speed up diffusion.
What is the counter-current flow system in fish?
Blood flows through the lamellae in one direction and water flows in the opposite direction.
What does the counter-current system help to do?
Maintain a large concentration gradient between the water and the blood. The concentration of oxygen in the water is always higher than that in the blood, so as much oxygen as possible diffuses from the water into the blood.
What do insects use to exchange gases?
Tracheae
What are tracheae?
Microscopic air-filled pipes that insects have.
What is the pathway of air in terrestrial insects?
Spiracles - tracheae - tracheoles
What are spiracles?
Pores on the surface of terrestrial insects.
How does air move into terrestrial insects?
Through pores on the surface called spiracles.
What are the features of the tracheoles?
They have thin permeable walls and go to individual cells meaning that oxygen diffuses directly into the respiring cells.
What aids gas exchange in terrestrial insects?
Mass transport - Rhythmic abdominal movements by flexing body by muscle contraction expanding and compressing system - pressure - valves.
Diffusion gradients along the length of the tracheal system.
What are the problems for multicellular organisms size?
The distance between the exterior and the interior environment are too great for substances to simply diffuse therefore they have had to involve increasingly more intricate systems for exchanging substances with their environment.