BIOL 203 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Metabolic Water, Surface Layer, Diapause
Document Summary
Adapting to variations in light and temperature. 7. 1- size imposes a fundamental constraint on the evolution of organisms. Scaling- process by which most morphological and physiological features change as a function of body size in a predictable way. Smaller bodies have a larger surface area relative to their volume than do larger objects of the same shape. Basic metabolism requires the transfer of materials and energy between the organism"s interior and exterior environment. As the size of the organism increases, the surface area of the body across which oxygen diffuses into the organism decreases relative to the interior volume of the body that requires the oxygen. Animals need to respond to the constraint: an adequate flow of oxygen needs to reach the entire interior of the body in larger organisms. More complex, convoluted, or wrinkled surface increases the surface area. No point on the interior of the organism is too far from the surface.
