01:119:101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Stenohaline, Euryhaline, Osmotic Concentration

• School: Rutgers University
• Department: Biological Science
• Course: 01:119:101
• Professor: prof.burton

Document Summary

Osmoregulation: process of animals controlling solute concentrations and balancing water gain and loss. Osmolarity: osmotic pressure: isosmotic: equal solutes, hyperosmotic: more solute, hypo-osmotic: less solute. Osmotic challenges: ways to maintains h2o balance: osmoconformer: (marine) isosmotic with surroundings, osmoregulator: (freshwater/terrestrial) control internal osmolarity independent of its environment, stenohaline: cannot tolerate big changes in external osmolarity, euryhaline: can tolerate big changes in external osmolarity. Marine animals: comformers: actively transport specific solutes, live in water with stable composition. Marine animals: regulators: drink water, use gills and kidneys to lose salts like cl-, na+, ca, mg, and sulfate. Animals in temporary waters: desiccation: extreme dehydration, anhydrobiosis: animals enter this state when their habitat temporarily dries up (a dormant state) An example of an animal who experiences this is a waterbear, aka tardigrade. Disaccaride trehalose protects cells by replacing h2o associated with proteins and membrane lipids. Land animals: body coverings like shells, keratinized dead skin and waxy exoskeletons.