Syllabus dot point help (1 Viewer)

[bbychocoholic]

hey guys
i have my half yearlys next week and was studying through the syllabus and came across (for maintaining a balance) this

"Explain the adaptive advantage of "haemoglobin" (under dot point 2- "Plants and animals transport dissolved nutrients and gases in a fluid medium")

Can someone please explain what is meant by "adaptive", thus what the question means and provide an example answer?

i saw my teacher today and he just told me to look it up- great help that is. i asked my friends and they said it's to do with the artificial blood and the haemoglobin based carriers information. is this true?

 

[h3ll h0und]

I'm not very good at bio but i vaguely remember my teacher saying that haemoglobin has four active sites to hold oxygen. Without haemoglobin, oxygen would have to be directly dissolved in plasma (i.e water). But oxygen isn't very soluble in water, thus, the presence of haemoglobin increases the oxygen carrying capacity of blood. This provides an adaptive advantage as the organism can stay active for longer (because oxygen is used in respiration to provide energy, in cells). [FONT=&quot][/FONT]

 

[sinophile]

hey guys
i have my half yearlys next week and was studying through the syllabus and came across (for maintaining a balance) this

"Explain the adaptive advantage of "haemoglobin" (under dot point 2- "Plants and animals transport dissolved nutrients and gases in a fluid medium")

Can someone please explain what is meant by "adaptive", thus what the question means and provide an example answer?

i saw my teacher today and he just told me to look it up- great help that is. i asked my friends and they said it's to do with the artificial blood and the haemoglobin based carriers information. is this true?

Your friend is wrong.

Ill explain it for you. Like the guy above me said, haomoglobin has four sites in which to bind an oxygen atom. Compare this to myoglobin, which is what fish and reptiles and amphibians have instead of haemoglobin. Myoglobin only has three sites to bind oxygen. We can see that haemoglobin allows oxygen transport to be REALLY EFFICIENT.

How is efficient oxygen transport an adaptive advantage? We know that oxygen is needed in respiration. It reacts with sugars to unleash energy. More oxygen means we can unleash energy more efficiently. This has two advantages:
1. Animals with haemoglobin can withstand the cold better, because they can unleash energy to warm themselves up. In other words, they can regulate their temperature- i.e homeostasis!
2. Animals with haemoglobin are more active- they can run faster and longer than those without haemoglobin, because they can release lots of energy for movement. This makes it easier to flee predators or chase after prey.

To illustrate my point, birds and mammals are animals which have haemoglobin. Birds and mammals are a lot more active than fish and reptiles- they're always walking around searching for food, while reptiles are usually just sitting on a warm stone, and they can run faster too. And in cold, snowy regions, you can see there are animals like penguins and snow rabbits which can generate their own heat. A reptile or amphibian in a cold region usually freezes to death, a fish needs special anti-freeze blood.

 

[bbychocoholic]

Your friend is wrong.

Ill explain it for you. Like the guy above me said, haomoglobin has four sites in which to bind an oxygen atom. Compare this to myoglobin, which is what fish and reptiles and amphibians have instead of haemoglobin. Myoglobin only has three sites to bind oxygen. We can see that haemoglobin allows oxygen transport to be REALLY EFFICIENT.

How is efficient oxygen transport an adaptive advantage? We know that oxygen is needed in respiration. It reacts with sugars to unleash energy. More oxygen means we can unleash energy more efficiently. This has two advantages:
1. Animals with haemoglobin can withstand the cold better, because they can unleash energy to warm themselves up. In other words, they can regulate their temperature- i.e homeostasis!
2. Animals with haemoglobin are more active- they can run faster and longer than those without haemoglobin, because they can release lots of energy for movement. This makes it easier to flee predators or chase after prey.

To illustrate my point, birds and mammals are animals which have haemoglobin. Birds and mammals are a lot more active than fish and reptiles- they're always walking around searching for food, while reptiles are usually just sitting on a warm stone, and they can run faster too. And in cold, snowy regions, you can see there are animals like penguins and snow rabbits which can generate their own heat. A reptile or amphibian in a cold region usually freezes to death, a fish needs special anti-freeze blood.

WHOOAAA
thank you so muchhh!!! your answer is brilliant! and a lot clearer than when i "looked it up" from the textbook which didn't even make sense.