Outline why oxygen uptake is more challenging for animals li

Outline why oxygen uptake is more challenging for animals living in water than for animals living in the air. If oxygen is easier to obtain in air, what is the trade-off, or converse problem, for organisms living in the air?

Solution

Oxygen uptake is a challenging task for animals living in water because they have to consume oxygen that is dissolved in water.Aquatic organisms have special organs known as gills which help in removing oxygen from water.Gills are respiratory organs that help in the uptake of oxygen from the water and and excretion of carbon dioxide.The gills have a large surface area which helps in the gaseous exchange of oxygen because water contains a very small percentage of dissolved oxygen.The blood flow in aquatic animals is in a direction opposite to the flow of water.This helps in keeping the diffusion gradient high.Once the oxygen exchange is done ,oxygen travels in the blood to be supplied to the different cells of the aquatic organisms.

Organisms living in air face the probem of getting rid of carbon dioxide dissolved in the blood .