Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Maintaining a Balance
1. Most Organisms are active in a limited temperature range.
A. Identify the role of enzymes in metabolism, describe their chemical
composition and use a simple model to describe their specificity on substrates.
Enzymes are biological catalysts i.e. they are organic compounds and speed up
reactions.
In an enzyme catalyzed reaction the molecules require a lower activation energy in order
to react, providing an alternative and quicker pathway for a chemical reaction.
Without enzymes, metabolism would be too slow to support life.
Most enzymes are proteins.
- Proteins are polypeptide chains folded in a three-dimensional globular shape.
- Proteins are made up of a long chain of amino acids, joined together by peptide
bonds.
Enzymes are highly specific and can distinguish its substrates from closely related
molecules.
- One enzyme catalyses one substrate and only that substrate.
- The binding of enzymes with a specific substrate occurs at the active site of the
enzyme, which is a pocket in the proteins three-dimensional chain.
The Lock and Key Model suggests that the substrate fits exactly into the active site of the
enzyme like a key fits into a lock. It assumes that the enzyme had a rigid and unchanging
shape.
The induced fit model, a more recent modification on the lock-key model, proposes that
the active site slightly changes its shape to accommodate the substrate perfectly. (like a
sock to a foot).
A coenzyme (organic molecule) usually binds to the active site and the cofactor
(inorganic) is either bound to the enzyme or to the coenzyme. These help the enzymes to
act.
Through the enzyme catalysed chemical reaction, the substrate can either be split, or two
substrates can be joined.
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performs on its own substrate. Every enzyme, therefore, plays an essential role so if one
is defect then the entire pathway is affected.
E.g. When the environmental temperature begins to exceed a comfortable level for the
body, temperature sensors in the skin detect the temperature change and a sensory
neuron conducts a nervous impulse to the hypothalamus found in the brain. Nerve
impulses pass this information from the receptors to effector neurons then onto effectors,
such as blood vessels, sweat glands, endocrine glands and muscles.
G. Identify the broad range of temperatures over which life is found compared
with the narrow limits for individual species.
Life, in some form, can be found at extremes ranging from - 40C to +120C.
The great majority of living organisms (for e.g. mammals) are found in the - 2C to +40C
range and for each individual species the range is even narrower.
Below 0C, cells risk ice crystals forming in them and above 45C, proteins within cells may
denature.
H. Compare responses of named Australian ectothermic and endothermic
organisms to changes in the ambient temperature and explain how these
responses assist temperature regulation.
ECTOTHERMS are organisms that have a limited ability to control their body
temperature. Their cellular activities generate little heat. Their body temperatures rise and
fall with ambient temperature changes. Most organisms are ectotherms. Examples are
plants, all invertebrates, fish, amphibians and reptiles
- Behavioural/ Thermoregulatory: Bogong moths migrate from their lowland habitat in
SE Australia (too hot in the summer) to hibernate in the Australian Alps in caves and
crevices. Here in the extreme cold they avoid their bodies freezing by supercooling
their tissues by reducing the temperature of their body fluids below their usual point of
freezing and surviving on their fat stores.
- Physiological: Antarctic ice fish produce antifreeze (glycoproteins) that prevent ice
formation.
- Shelter: The netted dragon stays in sheltered areas to avoid extreme heat. They can
dig burrows or seek shelter in caves or crevices. This reduces the effect of heat on
their body.
- Nocturnal Activity: Brown snakes can change into nocturnal animals when the
temperature becomes very hot. Many desert animals sleep in burrows during the day
and are active at night, to escape the heat.
1. Identify data sources, plan, choose equipment or resources and perform a firsthand investigation to test the effect of:
Increased temperature
Rennin (secreted by the walls of the stomach) acts to the milk protein casein causing it to
clump into a semi-solid curd.
Aim: to observe the effects of variation in temperature on the action of rennin.
Equipment: 4 water baths (20,40,60,80 C), Bunsen burner, milk (60mls), rennin junket
tablet, 2 measuring cylinders/small beakers, 8 test tubes, distilled water, stopwatch.
1. Make a rennin solution by dissolving a junket tablet in distilled water.
2. Add the same amount of rennin solution to a number of test tubes of milk.
3. Place test tubes in different water baths at temperature ranges such as 0C, 20C, 40C,
60C and 80C. Make sure each water bath is kept at the temperature it has been
allocated.
4. Time the interval between adding the rennin and curdling of the milk for each
temperature.
5. Note that the variables kept constant in each test tube are the junket solution, the pH
of the solution, the type of milk and the quantity of milk in each test tube.
6. Comment on which temperature is the most effective in curdling the milk. Could a
different temperature be better?
Results: Most effective at 40C, works at 60C but takes much longer.
- Conclusion: the prime temperature for enzyme activity is around 40C (body temperature
is 37C). At 60C activity is low and 20C and 80C there is no activity (denatured at 80C).
Change in pH
The general name for all starch-splitting enzymes is amylase.
Aim: to test the effect of varying the pH, on the ability of salivary amylase to catalyze the
breakdown of starch to maltose.
Equipment: pH buffer solutions, starch solution, amylase, thermometer, test tubes & rack,
large beaker, Bunsen burner, Iodine, pH indicator paper.
Hypothesis: the enzyme will catalyse the reaction within a range of pH conditions.
1. Put 3ml of amylase solution in test tube.
2. Record the pH of amylase solution with indicating paper.
3. Add 1ml of the pH buffer solution.
4. Gently mix the substances, roll through hands.
5. Place in 37C water bath.
6. Add 10 drops of starch solution and 1 drop of iodine in the test tube.
7. Leave in water bath for 15 minutes, check every minute.
2. Gather, process and analyse information from secondary sources and use
available evidence to develop a model of a feedback mechanism.
All homeostatic mechanisms use negative feedback to maintain a set point.
Negative feedback means that whenever a change occurs in a system the change
automatically causes a corrective mechanism to start, which reverses the original change
and brings the system back to normal.
Negative feedback applies to electronic circuits and central heating systems as well as
biological systems.
In a system controlled by negative feedback, the level is never maintained perfectly, but
constantly oscillates about the set point.
An efficient homeostatic system minimises the size of the oscillations.
The nervous system as a model for a negative feedback mechanism.
Deep within the brain lie the hypothalamus and the thalamus.
The thalamus receives impulses from the sensory neurons and directs them to various
parts of the brain where they are interpreted.
The hypothalamus is the control centre for maintaining homeostasis.
The hypothalamus regulates the release of hormones as well as controlling many other
aspects of homeostasis, such as temperature control.
Temperature control responses:
Keeping Warm
Keeping Cool
Shiver to generate heat
Sweating; evaporation loses heat
Hair muscles erect; insulation
Blood vessels dilate; increased blood supply,
more heat lost
Increased appetite
Hair relaxes, less insulation
Blood vessels constrict; less blood flow, less heat loss
Decrease in metabolism
Increase in metabolism
Less exercise
Diagram of the feedback mechanism:
The CNS, the brain and the spinal cord, as well as the PNS are the anatomical divisions
of the nervous system. These can further be divided into the functional divisions of:
Autonomic (automatic) and Somatic (voluntary). The Autonomic nervous system is further
divided into:
The Sympathetic, functions to remove us from danger increased heart rate and
breathing, adrenaline release; and the Parasympathetic, functions to restore normality.
Hormones are chemical messengers secreted by cells of an organism in response to
specific stimuli.
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1. Plants and Animals transport dissolved nutrients and gases in a fluid medium.
A. Identify the form(s) in which each of the following is carried in mammalian
blood:
Carbon Dioxide
Most carbon dioxide enters the red blood cells, is converted into carbonic acid and then is
combined with water to form bicarbonate ions, 70%.
Some is attached to Haemoglobin molecules in red blood cells, forming carbinaminohaemoglobin, 23%.
A small percentage is transported in plasma as dissolved CO2, 7%.
All of the above then move into the plasma and is then transported.
It is produced as a waste product of respiration in cells.
Transported from the Body cells to the lungs for excretion.
Oxygen
Oxygen attaches itself to Haemoglobin in the red blood cells, becoming a complex called
oxyhaemoglobin.
Oxygen is needed in the body for respiration. It is brought in across the respiratory
surfaces of the lungs and is transported to the body cells for respiration.
Water
Water is the solvent of plasma it makes up 60% of blood volume.
Liquid water is the solvent making up 90% of the plasma.
Salts
These are transported directly dissolved in the plasma.
E.g. sodium, potassium, magnesium, etc.
Salts are carried as dissolved ions in the plasma.
Lipids
Lipids are transported as chylomicrons these are clusters of triglycerides, phospholipids
and cholesterol, wrapped in a coat of protein.
Digested lipids are changed into triglycerides (this happens in the lining of the small
intestine).
These are released into the lymph and eventually pass into the veins.
Nitrogenous Waste
The nitrogenous wastes (urea, uric acid and creatinine) are dissolved in blood plasma.
Wastes such as ammonia are changed into urea and is also transported dissolved in the
plasma.
Other products of digestion
Other products of digestion, such as sugars, amino acids, glycerol and various vitamins.
Are transported in the plasma as they are mainly water soluble.
For most vertebrates, haeme units are combined in groups of four, therefore being able to
carry four oxygen molecules. This increases the rate and efficiency of oxygen intake.
It is an evolutionary advantage to have haemoglobin enclosed in a blood cell or else it
would upset the osmotic balance of blood.
It has been suggested that the development of red blood cells without a nucleus ins an
evolutionary advantage because it leaves more room for haemoglobin in each cell.
Organisms with blood (containing haemoglobin) are able to deliver more oxygen to cells
more efficiently than others with no haemoglobin. The net effect is that these organisms
are more effective operators in a given environment than their competitors. Gives a
considerable survival advantage. Has allowed organisms to grow much larger.
The human body adapts to oxygen deprivation by initially increasing heart rate, breathing
rate, then the number of red blood cells (more haemoglobin), then density of capillaries.
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- Glucose levels also drop.
In the LIVER:
- Levels of glucose are regulated excess glucose is changed to glycogen, or glycogen
stores are changed to glucose (if needed).
- Excess amino acids are changed to ammonia, and then to urea
- Poisons are also reduced, as the liver changes them to less toxic forms
In the INTESTINES:
- Levels of nutrients from digestion increase.
- Glucose, amino acids, ions, lipids and other substances from food enter the blood.
- The increase is through the small intestines reabsorption of food.
In the KIDNEYS:
- Salt and water levels are regulated.
- All urea is removed, toxins are excreted into the urine.
- The changed blood, again highly deoxygenated, then flows back to the pulmonary circuit.
Deoxygenated blood returns to the heart via the inferior and superior vena cava.
E. Outline the need for oxygen in living cells and explain why removal of carbon
dioxide from cells is essential.
Respiration is the breakdown of glucose using oxygen to produce energy. If no oxygen is
present, fermentation occurs.
- Glucose + oxygen
carbon dioxide + water + energy (in the form of ATP). This
equation shows that all living cells that metabolise glucose need oxygen.
In producing usable energy (ATP) from circulating energy (in glucose) living cells also
produce Carbon Dioxide.
- CO2 is of no further use and must be removed ASAP before the build of CO2 creates the
pH to turn acidic.
- The accumulation of CO2 can have damaging effects on body chemistry.
- It is removed by the blood in 3 ways: dissolved as a gas in plasma, attached to
haemoglobin, or as hydrogen carbonate ions in plasma.
For cells to respire efficiently oxygen must be continually supplied and carbon dioxide
removed.
- For CO2; body cells (supply), alveoli (removal).
- For Oxygen; alveoli (supply), body cells and tissues (removal).
The transportation of oxygen and carbon dioxide between lungs and tissues is a dynamic
system capable of responding to change.
F. Describe current theories about processes responsible for the movement of
materials through plants in xylem and phloem tissue.
Xylem transports water and dissolved minerals, upwards only. Some minerals, the macro
nutrients are needed in large amounts, while the micro nutrients are required less.
Passive transport and it depends on transpiration and the physical properties of water.
The Evaporation-Tension-Cohesion Mechanism: is currently the theory that accounts for
the ascent of xylem sap.
- Water is absorbed by the root hairs because of a water potential between the soil,
and the cells of the root hairs, and root pressure.
- Water vapor held in the mesophyll cells moves out into the air. More water moves out
of the small xylem vessels and into the mesophyll cells to take place of the water lost.
- The removal of water at the leaf sets up a tension in the xylem, this is the
transpirational pull, where water is then drawn up the xylem tubes to replace this loss.
- As water molecules are removed by transpiration in the leaf, the next molecule moves
upwards to take its place, pulling the stream of molecules continuously along.
- The cohesive properties of water molecules keep the water moving up the xylem to
replace the water lost at the leaves.
- The narrowness of the xylem tubes adds the force adhesion/capilliarity, between the
sides of the tubes and water molecules.
Phloem transports sucrose and glucose, produced by photosynthesis tissue, to other
regions of a plant as well as hormones and any other organic material made by the plant.
Active Transport.
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The Pressure Flow Mechanism: is the current theory used to describe and explain the
processes involved in translocation.
- Transported from the leaves to other areas in the plant where they are used or stored.
- Water enters by osmosis due to a high solute concentration in the phloem tube. Water
pressure is now raised at this end of the tube.
- From areas where sugar (glucose) is in abundance (sugar source) to areas where it
is required (sugar sink). Called the source-to-sink mechanism; driven by a gradient
generated osmotically.
- The sugar sink would be the growing points and reproductive structures, in the plant,
including developing fruits and seeds
- The sugar is transported by active transport in the form of sucrose.
- At the sugar source there is a large solute concentration and a high water
concentration. This exerts a high turgor pressure or hydrostatic pressure.
- Therefore at a sugar sink the hydrostatic pressure is low.
- Pressure flow, therefore drives the sugars from the photosynthetic or storage sites to
other parts of the plant for use or storage.
1. Perform a first-hand investigation to demonstrate the effect of dissolved
carbon dioxide on the pH of water.
To demonstrate the effect of dissolved carbon dioxide on the pH of water.
1. Fill a beaker with 250ml of distilled water and add several drops of universal indicator
until a convenient colour is achieved.
1. use a straw to bubble exhaled breath through the water until a colour change can be
detected.
2. Repeat, also try using a data logger.
Results: CO2 form carbonic acid when dissolved in water, and therefore the indicator
showed a colour change towards acidic spectrum.
Conclusion: dissolving carbon dioxide in water effects the pH of water, making it more
acidic by forming carbonic acid.
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Red Blood Cells: H.P. Field of View (um) / no. Of red blood cells.
[Approx. 6-8 um]
White Blood Cells: H.P. Field of View (um) / no. of white blood cells.
[Approx. 12-20 um]
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Whole Blood ~ When a person looses more than 20% of their blood volume.
E.g. transfusions (injury, surgery).
5. Analyse and present information from secondary sources to report on progress
in the production of artificial blood and use available evidence to propose reasons
why such research is needed.
Artificial blood has two main uses:
- To increase plasma volume E.g. in the case of a severe burns victim.
- To carry oxygen (and carbon dioxide) E.g. sickle cell anaemia.
There are two types of artificial blood available. They are:
- Perfluorochemicals.
- Haemoglobin-based oxygen carriers.
It can be produced using synthetic production, chemical isolation or recombinant
biochemical technology.
Advantages of using artificial blood:
- Immediately available.
- Long shelf life.
- Safe from diseases.
- No need to have a matching blood type.
- Useful in emergencies, disasters and war, that is large quantities of artificial blood
needed in a short time frame.
- Countries where there is no blood donor service.
6. Choose equipment or resources to perform a first-hand investigation to gather
first-hand data to draw transverse and longitudinal sections of phloem and xylem
tissue.
Aim: to investigate the microscopic structure of xylem and phloem, and to draw
transverse and longitudinal sections of xylem and phloem tissue.
Results:
Companion
Cells
Sieve Plates
Sieve Tubes.
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2. Plants and animals regulate the concentration of gases, water and waste products of
metabolism in cells and in interstitial fluid.
A. Explain why the concentration of water in cells should be maintained within
a narrow range for optimal function.
It is a versatile solvent and makes up around 70-90% of living things.
It is a polar substance with cohesive properties so it is able to form true solutions with
ionic substances.
The fact that substances can become solutions is important to the biochemical
functioning of the cell. It:
- Maintains the osmotic pressure of the cell.
- It is a lubrication fluid E.g. mucus.
- Metabolic reactions take place between chemicals in solution and water is the
solvent.
- Water is the main transport medium.
- Water is a major product and reactant in many metabolic reactions.
Cell metabolism is controlled by enzymes. Enzymes are most efficient within a narrow
range of optimal conditions. A change in water concentration could effect movement of
nutrients and wastes in and out of cells, affecting these optimal conditions and therefore
tampering with enzyme activity.
It is critical for proper functioning of these reactions that the amount and concentration of
water in the cell be kept constant. Most cells die, from dehydration or bursting, when the
water content is changed significantly.
Helps maintain body heat at a stable level by
- Having a high specific heat capacity.
- High heat of vaporisation to cool the body.
Cushions and protects cells and tissues.
Isotonic: Concentration of solutes outside the cell is the same as inside the cell. No
overall movement of water.
Hypertonic: Concentration of solutes is greater outside the cell than inside. Water tends to
move out of the cell.
Hypotonic: Concentration of solutes is greater inside the cell than out. Water tends to
move inside the cell.
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In marine fish, the external environment has a higher concentration of salt than the
cellular fluids. The kidneys excrete small quantities of isotonic urine. This helps
conserve water and excrete the excess salt they gain from their hyperosmotic
environment.
- In freshwater fish, the cell fluids of the fish are usually higher in salt concentration
than the water, meaning that its cells gain water by osmosis. The kidneys work
continuously to excrete copious quantities of dilute urine, which also has a very low
salt concentration. This helps to remove excess water gained from the hypo-osmotic
environment.
Ureotelic: Mammals, amphibians, and some cartilaginous fish must convert ammonia to
urea for excretion.
Uricotelic: Birds, Reptiles and insects excrete uric acid (which is less soluble in water) as
a paste.
-
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PROXIMAL TUBULE:
- Bicarbonate ions are reabsorbed into
the capillaries into the blood from the
nephron, hydrogen ions are secreted
out. This maintains the pH of the
blood.
- Drugs, such as aspirin, penicillin and
poisons are secreted out of the blood.
- Regulation of salts also occurs here.
Sodium ions are actively reabsorbed
and chlorine ions follow passively.
Potassium ions are also reabsorbed.
REABSORPTION:
- The substances the body can reuse are reabsorbed into the capillaries surrounding
the nephron. Eg, vitamins and hormones. This is active transport and requires energy.
Some other substances passively re-enter the blood. Eg, water by osmosis and salts
by diffusion.
- This occurs in the proximal and distal tubules and in the loop of Henle.
SECRETION:
- This is the process where the body actively transports substances from the blood into
the nephron.
- Some toxins, such as urea, tend to diffuse back into the blood, so it must be secreted
back into the nephron.
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It is also done to regulate salt and water levels again, or to remove additional toxins.
This is active transport.
G. Outline the role of the hormones, aldosterone and ADH (anti-diuretic
hormone), in the regulation of water and salt levels in blood.
ALDOSTERONE:
Is a steroid hormone secreted by the adrenal glands and functions to regulate the transfer
of sodium and potassium ions in the kidney.
Because blood pressure is essential to glomerula filtration, when blood pressure falls so
does glomerula filtration.
When pressure sensitive receptors, in the different arteriole cells, detect a fall in sodium
levels they secrete Renin.
Renin stimulates the adrenal cortex to produce and secrete aldosterone.
Acts on the loop of Henle and the distal tubules of the nephron to actively absorb more
sodium ions. The water passively follows the ions so blood pressure rises.
Potassium ions are affected the opposite way by aldosterone.
-
ADH/VASOPRESSIN:
- It is a anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) produced by neurosecretory cells in the
hypothalamus of the brain, controls water reabsorption in the nephron.
- Neurosecretory cells are activated when osmoreceptors in the hypothalamus detect a
rise in blood solutes (a drop in blood water concentration).
- Vasopressin is released into the blood stream via the prosterior pituatry gland.
- This increases the permeability of the collecting ducts to water, allowing more water
to be absorbed from the urine into the blood.
A negative feedback system occurs here via the hypothalamus.
- The osmoreceptors also generate a sensation of thirst in the body when they detect a
rise in blood solutes. Increased drinking also acts as a feedback mechanism which
leads to lower secretion of ADH.
H. Define enantiostasis as the maintenance of metabolic and physiological
functions in response to variations in the environment and discuss its
importance to estuarine organisms in maintaining appropriate salt
concentrations.
Enantiostasis is an operation which is crucial to allow estuarine organisms such as
mangroves, fish, diving birds, and mammals to maintain stability in their internal
environment so that metabolism and other processes can proceed efficiently.
An estuary is a partially enclosed area in which the freshwater of a river or stream meet
and mixes with sea water. Therefore, the salinity levels are always dramatically changing.
Organisms that must tolerate wide fluctuations of salinity are said to be euryhaline.
One strategy to withstand such changes in salt concentration is to allow the body's
osmotic pressure to vary with that of the environment. Organisms that do this, and
therefore do not maintain homeostasis, are said to be osmoconformers. Most marine
invertebrates are osmoconformers.
However, as the salt concentration of body fluids in an osmoconformer changes, various
body functions are affected, such as the activity of enzymes. For normal functioning to be
maintained, another body function must be changed in a way that compensates for the
change in enzyme activity.
For E.g. When a change in salt concentration in the body fluid, which reduces the
efficiency of an enzyme, is compensated for by a change in pH, which increases the
efficiency of the same enzyme.
In contrast, marine mammals and most fish are osmoregulators, maintaining homeostasis
regardless of the osmotic pressure of the environment. Estuarine fish maintain a solute
concentration in their cells that is similar to the external salt concentration in the water.
They do this by moving small organic molecules in and out of their tissues.
Mangroves maintain the salt concentration of their cells by three methods: exclusion
able to exclude salt while allowing water to enter; Secretion accumulate salt in glands in
leaves and release the salt onto the leaf surface; Accumulation accumulate salt in older
tissues and leaves which are eventually discarded.
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I.
The kidney is made up of three sections, the pelvis, the medulla and the cortex
The cortex contains the glomeruli and it is involved in the filtration of blood. It is very dark
red due to the capillaries.
The medulla contains the nephron tubules, as can be observed by the striped
appearance of the medulla. This section is involved in the reabsorption and secretion of
substances.
The pelvis is where all the collecting ducts connect to.
The collecting ducts reabsorb water
The renal artery, renal vein and ureters are all connected to the pelvis.
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Ammonia is the direct result of amino acid breakdown and is a waste product of all
organisms.
Ammonia is very water soluble, but VERY toxic, and must be removed quickly, or
changed to a less toxic form.
The removal of ammonia would require large volumes of water, and this is not possible for
animals or insects that seek to conserve water
It is important for terrestrial animals and insects to conserve water as they live on an
extremely dry continent where water availability is unpredictable.
Mammals change ammonia into UREA and release it as urine. (E.G. Kangaroos,
wallabies, hopping mice, koalas, etc.)
Australian animals E.g. the Kangaroo, the Euro, the Wallaroo and the Bilby release very
concentrated urine, and are able to tolerate high levels of urea in their bodies.
Many small desert mammals , E.g. the Kangaroo Rat, the Spinnifex hopping mouse, and
the Bilby, produce water during metabolism ,then excrete a very concentrated urine and
dry faeces.
Birds, Reptiles and Insects change ammonia into URIC ACID, a whitish paste which uses
hardly any water.
- This is lighter than using urea, and helps in flight.
- It is less toxic than ammonia or urea, so can be safely stored in or on the body for
extended periods of time.
- It is thousands of times less soluble than ammonia or urea and has low toxicity, which
means that little water is expended to remove it.
- This is a great advantage for survival.
Some insects excrete ammonia as a vapour across the body surface rather than as a
solution of urine, an adaptation for conserving water.
More commonly, Insects produce URIC acid, which is a dry urate waste requiring no
water to remove and with low toxicity so that it can be kept in the body for long periods of
time. E.g. Grasshoppers.
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6. Process and analyse information from secondary sources and use available
evidence to discuss processes used by different plants for salt regulation
in saline environments.
Halophytes are plants that can tolerate high salt levels. Commonly found in areas such as
estuaries.
Grey Mangroves:
- Salt Exclusion - has a root epidermis that actively exclude salt so the xylem water
concentrations are relatively desalinated.
- Salt Secretors - has salt secreting glands on the underside of the leaves. Salt
crystallises on the leaves and is washed or blown away. There is a high salt
concentration in the xylem.
- Salt Accumulators salt is accumulated on the bark or leaves until the leaves fall off.
There is a low salt concentration in the xylem.
Saltbushes such as the Sarcocornia quinqueflora:
- Salt Accumulation: This plant stores its excess salt in swollen leaf bases, which drop
off, ridding the plant of salt.
The salt marsh plant Sporobolus Virginicus:
- Has salt glands on its leaves.
Another form of salt stress can occur in salt laden air such as in coastal environments.
- Norfolk Island pine, have a mesh of cuticle over their stomates, which prevents small
water droplets from entering the leaf.
7. Perform a first-hand investigation to gather information about structures in
plants that assist in the conservation of water.
As Australia is a dry continent, many of our plants have evolved to withstand periods of
drought.
Some plant species to look for are eucalyptus, casuarinas, paper barks, cacti and other
succulents, spinifex and mulga.
Here are a few adaptations to look for:
- The location and the number of stomates.
- The arrangement, shape and size of the leaves.
- Phyllodes or cladodes rather than leaves.
- Presence of a thick waxy cuticle.
- Hairy leaves.
- Leaves reduced to spines.
- Leaves rolled inwards/ curled.
- The reflective nature of the leaf surface.