final Flashcards
Pros of life in water
- high heat capacity = stable temp
- metabolic waste easily removed in h2o
- sound transmits well
- H2O supports body
- aquatic reproduction by broadcasting gametes into water to avoid drying out
cons of life in water
- density and viscosity costs locomotion and visual range
- limits metabolic rates (bc takes more energy to pull O2 from water)
comparing life in air vs life in water
AIR:
- low heat capacity = temp extremes
- low viscosity = air flows easily
- O2 diffuses faster in air
- less dense due to gravity
WATER:
- high heat capacity = stable temps
- universal solvent (H2O dissolves/transports molecules)
- high viscosity due to strong intermolecular bonds
- O2 needs to be dissolved (less O2)
- high density (pressure changes with depth)
what are some challenges on land?
- desiccation
- getting rid of toxic wastes while minimizing H2O loss
- breathing air
- sensory systems and structures
- protective coating or internal structure for gamete exchange
- structures supporting gravity
adaptations to avoid desiccation: mechanisms to reduce water loss
- skin and waxy cuticle
- behaviour (hunting at night)
- production of concentrated urine (loop of Henle)
what is loop of Henle?
- vertebrate kidney (U shaped)
- reabsorbs water and NaCl to produce highly concentrated urine
adaptations to avoid desiccation: mechanisms to replace water loss
- drink and eat moist foods
- metabolic water (water generated through process of metabolism)
adaptations to avoid desiccation: develop desiccation tolerance
- going into aestivation (dormancy)
- example = lungfish. during dry seasons they dig into mud and curl up. a protective cocoon mucus forms. stays in that state until H2O returns
adaptations to avoid desiccation: Parthenogenesis
- form of aesexual reproduction (low cost)
- occurs in unstressed, moist environments)
performance curve (describe what happens below 0 degrees and approaching 45 degrees)
- cell functions between 0 and 45 degrees
Below 0 degrees
- ice crystals;s destroy organelles and cell membranes
Approaching 45 degrees
- proteins and nucleic acids unfold and lose function
temperature extremes adaptations
- endothermy (produce own heat)
- sweat to cool down
- behaviour (hunting at night)
- freeze avoidance to lower freeze point
temperature extremes adaptations: freeze tolerance
- ice nucleating proteins ( organisms can control where ice crystals form to prevent ice from spreading through entire body)
- higher proportion of phospholipids
- lower metabolism
excretions of waste
- ammonia is toxic (usually aquatic animals)
- urea = less toxic and can be stored at higher temp (prevents water loss)
- uric acid = insoluble (white paste in bird poo)
how do they protect reproductive structures from desiccation?
- gametes are fertilized internally (which means they need to find mates)
- embryos protected by
- some animals have eggshells
- amniote vertebrates have membrane that encases and protects amniotic fluid that surrounds embryo
gas exchange to transport O2 and CO2: aquatic animals
- less O2 bc of high density and viscosity (takes more energy to move O2 across water surface)
- easier to get rid of CO2
gas exchange to transport O2 and CO2: gas exchange in air
- diffusion is 10 000 times faster than in water
- higher O2 content bc of low density + viscosity
- not easy to remove CO2
- must be covered by thin film of fluid
- has evaporative loss
gas exchange to transport O2 and CO2: internalized gas exchange
- inward, protected, moist structures
- higher SA
- reduces H2O loss
- example = tracheal sys. in insects
sensing in air: light
- radiant energy
- bigger eyes in air = better visual range
- bigger eyes in water = visual range not better
sensing in air: sound
- waves of pressure
- less compressible = faster
- more compressible = slower
- vertebrate ear translates air into fluid energy
sensing in air: smell and taste
- small molecules
- olfactory system in mosquitoes has hair like chemosensory structures on antennae. also uses pores to allow molecules to enter
Does SA;A increase or decrease as animals get larger?
- decreases
- support = area dependent
- mass = volume dependent
what is isometric scaling?
proportional scaling
what is allometric scaling?
- alloios = different
- disproportionate scaling
what is Kleiber’s Law?
- metabolic rate = (mass)^3/4
- smaller animals uses energy less efficiently
- bigger animals uses energy more efficiently