[go: up one dir, main page]
Scribd
Upload
89 views3 pages

Gas Exchange in Animal

Organisms obtain oxygen from their environment through gas exchange and release carbon dioxide. Animals have evolved different gas exchange systems to meet their respiratory needs, including skin, tracheae, gills, and lungs. Skin gas exchange occurs through diffusion across capillaries just below the skin, requiring the skin to stay moist. Tracheal systems of insects feature branched tubes extending throughout the body from openings called spiracles. Gills extract dissolved oxygen from water through feather-like structures on fish heads. Lungs have evolved in birds to meet high metabolic demands of flight, featuring air sacs and specialized lung passageways.

Uploaded by

Aaron Dave Cantero
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
89 views3 pages

Gas Exchange in Animal

Organisms obtain oxygen from their environment through gas exchange and release carbon dioxide. Animals have evolved different gas exchange systems to meet their respiratory needs, including skin, tracheae, gills, and lungs. Skin gas exchange occurs through diffusion across capillaries just below the skin, requiring the skin to stay moist. Tracheal systems of insects feature branched tubes extending throughout the body from openings called spiracles. Gills extract dissolved oxygen from water through feather-like structures on fish heads. Lungs have evolved in birds to meet high metabolic demands of flight, featuring air sacs and specialized lung passageways.

Uploaded by

Aaron Dave Cantero
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

GAS EXCHANGE IN ANIMAL

Gas exchange
Organisms obtain life supporting gases from their environment and release life damaging
gases out of their systems to stay alive.
One of the major physiological challenges of multicellular animals in obtaining sufficient
oxygen and expelling amounts of carbon dioxide in the process of Respiration.

Major types of gas exchange


system in animals:
● skin
● tracheae
● gills
● lungs

Skin - A dense network of capillaries lies just below the skin and facilitates gas exchange
between the external environment and the circulatory system. The respiratory surface must be
kept moist in order for the gases to dissolve and diffuse across the cell membrane.

Integumentary Exchange or cutaneous respiration - A form of respiration in which gas


exchange occurs the skin or outer integument of an organisms rather than lungs or gills.

Worms
As fresh water is taken in through the skin, oxygen is drawn in the worm's circulatory
system, and the worm's hearts pump the oxygenated blood to the head area.

Frog
Are amphibians that they can live both on land as well as in water, when they are in the
water they breathe with skin and when on land they breathe with their lungs. Their skin
has to stay wet in order for them to absorb oxygen so they secrete mucous to keep their
skin moist. Oxygen absorbed through their skin will enter blood vessel, right at their skin
surface that will circulate the oxygen to the rest of the body.

Tracheal system
Some animals have a skin surface that is not adequate gas exchange all over its body.
That is why certain parts of their bodies evolved as highly branched large respiratory
surfaces in the form of tracheal systems among insects, gills in fishes so they could
exchange gases in water environments, and lungs in land animals. Arthropods, such as
insects and spiders, have a tracheal system that consists of branched internal tubes that
extend throughout the body. On the surface of the insect's body are tiny openings called
spiracles. Arising from these spiracles are sturdy tubes known as tracheae.
Gills
Is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from
water and excrete carbon dioxide.

Fish
A set of feather-like internal gills found on each side of its head that flap open and close
with the exchange of gases. Dissolved oxygen from the water that enters the mouth
diffuses across its gill surfaces into the capillaries, with carbon dioxide diffusing in the
opposite direction to the outside environment. This mechanism is called countercurrent
exchange, which is highly efficient in extracting oxygen dissolved in water where oxygen
content is lower than in air.
Bird
On the other hand, have a different level of activity and metabolic needs due to their
flight abilities. They have a respiratory demand far greater than the capacity of the lungs
of an active mammal. An avian lung has evolved into three components a series of air
sacs outside of the lungs called posterior and anterior air sacs, and the air passageways
through the lungs known as parabronchi. During exhalation, the air flows from the
posterior air sacs in front of the lungs and to the lungs themselves, then on to another
set of anterior air sacs and out of its body. It means that there is no dead volume; that
the air passing across the bird's lungs is always fully oxygenated and the blood flow is a
90-degree angle called crosscurrent flow.

You might also like