Ateneo de Davao University

Senior High School

Bangkal, Davao City, Philippines
AY 2020-2021

Learning Content

Nutrition and Gas Exchange in Plants and Animals

• NUTIRITION AND ITS MODES

a. Nutrition - processes by which organisms obtain and use the nutrients required for maintaining
life.

Main modes of nutrition in plants and animals are:

1. Autotrophic nutrition
2. Heterotrophic nutrition

Plants and animals do not obtain food by the same processes. Plants and some bacteria
have the green pigment chlorophyll to help synthesize food, while animals, fungi and other
bacteria depend on other organisms for food.

1. Autotrophic nutrition:
The term ‘autotroph’ is derived from two Greek words—autos (self) and (nutrition). In
autotrophic nutrition, an organism makes its own food from simple raw materials.

Photosynthesis:
• Synthesizes its own organic molecules from simple inorganic substances (e.g. CO2,
nitrates)
• Energy for this process is derived from sunlight (photosynthesis) or via the oxidation of
inorganic molecules (chemosynthesis)
• Because autotrophs synthesize their own organic molecules they are commonly referred
to as producers
• Ex: Autotrophs (green plants)

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Chemosynthesis:
Process of synthesizing organic compounds from CO2 and H2O using energy supplied by
chemical processes, which involve the oxidation of organic substances such as hydrogen
sulfide, ammonia, and iron.

Ex: Iron bacteria and Nitrifying bacteria (Nitrosomes and Nitrobacter)

2. Heterotrophic nutrition:
The word ‘heterotroph’ is derived from two Greek words—heteros (other) and trophe
(nutrition). Unlike autotrophs, which manufacture their own food, heterotrophic organisms
obtain food from other organisms. As heterotrophs depend on other organisms for their food,
they are called consumers. All animals and non-green plants like fungi come under this category.

Consumers which consume herbs and other plants are called herbivores, and those which
consume animals are called carnivores. After taking complex organic materials as food,
heterotrophs break them into simpler molecules with the help of biological catalysts, or enzymes,
and utilize them for their own metabolism.

Depending upon the mode of living and the mode of intake of food, heterotrophs may be
parasitic, saprophytic, or holozoic.

a. Holozoic Nutrition:
In holozoic nutrition, complex organic substances are ingested (taken in) without them
being degraded or decomposed. After intake, such food is digested by enzymes produced within
the organism. Digested food is absorbed into the body and the undigested product is egested
(expelled) from the body. This kind of nutrition is found mainly in non-parasitic animals—
simple ones like Amoeba and complex ones like human beings.

Types of Holozoic Animals:

1. Herbivores – animals that only eat plants. They have wide flat teeth for grazing on grass
or beaks to open nuts. (Ex: Koala, Deer, Panda)

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2. Carnivores – an organism that eats animals (meat) only. (Ex: Wolf, Tiger, Lion)

3. Omnivores – an organism that eats both plants and animals. (Ex: Bear, Human, Hen)

4. Detritivores – organisms that feed on dead and decaying organic matter (detritus) (Ex:
Woodlice, Earthworm, Snail)

5. Insectivorous Plants - obtain some nutrients by trapping and digesting various

invertebrates, and occasionally even small frogs and mammals. (Ex: Venus Flytrap,
Pitcher plant, Sundew)

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 Types of Holozoic Animals Based on Food Size

1. Microphagous Feeders - organisms that take in their food in the form of tiny particles.
(Amoeba and Paramecium)

2. Liquid Feeders (Mosquitoes, Aphids, and Bees)

3. Macrophagous Feeders – the ingestion of large food particles and the capture of prey are
essentially attributes of mobile organisms. (most animals)

HUMAN DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

The human digestive system breaks food down into small molecules that can be used by
cells in the body.

The overall process is divided into 5 steps which are:

1. Ingestion – the process of taking food into the digestive system.

2. Digestion – the breakdown of food
3. Absorption – the absorption of necessary nutrients with the help of villi and microvilli
4. Assimilation – uptake and utilization of absorbed food molecules
5. Egestion – feces (undigested food) are excreted

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Overview of the Human Digestive System

The Human Digestive Tract

• The human digestive system is made of the alimentary
Canal which extends from the mouth to the anus
• Includes extensive coiling and folding
• Mucus-secreting epithelium (mucosa)
• It also includes accessory digestive organs that secrete
substances into the lumen (pancreas, gallbladder, liver)

Processing of food begins in the mouth, or oral cavity. Swallowing moves into the
throat, from which it proceeds into the esophagus. The wall of the esophagus – as well as the
wall of all the portions of digestive tract beyond it – contains smooth muscle. By a process
called Peristalsis, this muscle contracts and relaxes in rhythmic waves, propelling any material
inside it farther along the tube.

A sphincter is a ring of muscle

that can relax and open to allow
substances through a passageway, or
contract to close off the passage. These
muscular structures at various points along
the digestive tract control passage through
it.

The stomach empties the contents

into the intestine, which has two regions
that differ in structure and function. The
first region, the small intestine, completes
the process of chemical digestion and
absorbs most nutrients. Secretions from
gall bladder and pancreas assist the
small intestine in these tasks. The second
region of the intestine, the large intestine,
absorbs water and concentrates waste. The terminal portion of the large intestine, the rectum,
stores waste until it is expelled from the body through the an

1. Chewing and Swallowing

The Teeth
• Four types (incisor in green, canine in red, pre-
molar in yellow, and molar in blue; see figure
below)
• Each tooth consists mostly of dentin.
• The enamel covers the crown.

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 The Tongue
• It is a membrane-covered skeletal muscle
• Helps position food where teeth can chop it
• Mixes food with saliva

Salivary Glands
• Exocrine glands
• Secrete saliva
• Also secretes enzymes and glycoproteins

Swallowing Reflex
• The epiglottis flops down to cover the opening of the airway.

2. Food Storage and Digestion in the Stomach

The Stomach
• Muscular sac with sphincter at either end.
• Three functions:
1. stores food and controls the rate of
passage to the small intestine
2. mechanically breaks down food
3. secretes substances that aid in chemical
digestion
• The mucosal cells (lining) secrete the gastric
fluid.
• Enzymes present:
o Pepsin (protein digestion)
o Gastrin (acid secretion)
o Ghrelin (“hunger hormone”/appetite)
• Also contains stretch receptors

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3. The Small Intestine
• Small in diameter
• Longest segment of the gut
• Highly folded
• Covered with villi (with microvilli)
• It is made up of multiple layers of
smooth muscle

Digestion and Absorption in the Small Intestine

Liver and Gall Bladder

• The liver secretes bile salts which are
stored in the gallbladder. Bile salts are
for emulsification of lipids.

Pancreas
• It secretes enzymes for digestion –
bicarbonate to neutralize stomach acid

a. Carbohydrate Digestion and Absorption

• Pancreatic amylase and enzymes split disaccharides into
monosaccharides.
• Active transport proteins move the monosaccharides to the
vessels for transport
• Simple sugars then enter the blood.

b. Protein Digestion and Absorption

• Pancreatic proteases cut polypeptides into smaller
fragments.
• Enzymes break fragments into amino acids.
• Amino acids are actively transported into brush border
cells and into the blood.

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 c. Fat Digestion and Absorption
• Bile disperses fat droplets.
• Pancreatic lipases break triglycerides into fatty acids
and monoglycerides.
• Fatty acids enter the villi through diffusion.
• Lipoproteins are made in the brush border cells.
• Lipoproteins enter lymph vessels.

Summary of Chemical Digestion

Enzymes Present Enzyme Source Enzyme Main Breakdown

Substrate Products

Carbohydrate Salivary amylase Salivary glands Polysaccharides Disaccharides

Digestion
Pancreatic amylase Pancreas Polysaccharides Monosaccharides
Mouth, stomach
Intestinal lining Disaccharides
small intestine
Protein Pepsins Stomach lining Proteins Protein fragments
Digestion
Trypsin, Pancreas Proteins Protein fragments
Stomach chymotrypsin
Pancreas Protein Amino acids
Small Intestine Carboxypeptidase, fragments
aminopeptidase Intestinal lining
Protein
fragments
Lipid Digestion Lipase Pancreas Triglycerides Free fatty acids
Small intestine Monoglycerides

Nucleic acid Pancreatic nucleases Pancreas DNA, RNA, Nucleotides

digestion nucleotides
Intestinal nucleases Intestinal lining Nucleotide bases,
Small intestine monosaccharides

4. The Large Intestine

• Wider but shorter than the small

intestine
• Receives indigestible material,
dead bacteria and mucosal cells,
inorganic substances, and some
water from the small intestine
• Concentrates waste
• Moderates pH

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 Defecation Reflex

The defecation reflex occurs when the internal anal

sphincter relaxes and the external anal sphincter
contracts. The recto-anal inhibitory reflex (RAIR)
is an involuntary internal anal sphincter relaxation
in response to rectal distention. After the defecation
reflex is triggered, you can either delay or defecate.

b. Saprophytic Nutrition:
Saprophytic organisms, or saprophytes, derive their food from dead organisms. They
secrete enzymes that are released on food material outside their body. These enzymes break
down complex food into simple forms. Common examples of saprophytes are fungi (moulds,
mushrooms, yeasts) and many bacteria.

Saprophytes:
• Secrete enzymes (amylases, lipases, proteases)
• Digest their food extracellularly
• Absorption through cell surface

How a Saprophyte Obtains its Nutrients

Example: Mucor (bread mould)
1. Rhizoids release enzyme into the bread
2. Enzymes digest complex organic molecules in
bread into simple, soluble molecules
3. Digested products are absorbed by the rhizoids

Q: Why are saprophytes important to the environment?

A: They allow essential materials to be recycled in the ecosystem.

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 c. Parasitic Nutrition:
Parasitic organisms, or parasites, live on or inside other living organisms, called hosts,
and obtain their food from them. The host does not get any benefit from the parasite. Different
parasites, like Cuscuta (akash-bel), Cassytha (amar-bel), hookworms, tapeworms, leeches, etc.,
have different modes of feeding, depending upon habit, habitat, and modifications.

Types of Parasites Based on their Location on the Host

1. Endoparasites – inside the body of the host. (Ex: Liver flukes and tapeworms)

2. Ectoparasites – on the surface of the body of the host. (Ex: Ticks, fleas, leeches)

3. Facultative Parasites – live independently in the absence of host (Ex: Bootlace fungus
and Chigger mite larvae – microscopic)

4. Obligate Parasites – unable to survive and reproduce without the host (Ex: Lice & ear
mites)

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 GAS ECHANGE IN PLANTS AND ANIMALS

Surviving in Thin Air

o The high mountains of the Himalayas have claimed the lives of even the world’s top
mountain climbers
o The air at the height of the world’s highest peak, Mt. Everest is so low in oxygen that
most people would pass out instantly if exposed to it

Respiration
-interchange of O2 and CO2 (organisms-environment)
-provides O2 for cellular respiration and removes waste product (CO2)

Mechanisms in Gas Exchange

• Gas exchange involves breathing, transport of gases, and exchange of gases with tissue
cells.

Gas Exchange in Animals

Unicellular Organisms
• Gas exchange through diffusion
• They do not have blood

Mammals
• Mammalian lungs contain alveoli (small air sacs) where gas exchange takes place.
• Blood in the system flows within vessels.
• Whales and dolphins have blowholes. This allows them to take breaths by
exposing just the top of their heads to the air while they are swimming or resting
under the water.
• mammals have closed transport system

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Reptiles
• Respiratory systems are similar to
mammals.
• Have larger “alveoli”
• Varanid – breathe with their cheeks
(buccal pumping)
• Exception: Sea snake – because
unlike fish, they do not have gills
and must surface regularly to
breathe.
• Closed transport system

Amphibians
• They have balloon-like lungs
• Gas exchange happens through the skin of amphibians.
• Their skin is moist, thin and has a large surface area. The diffusion of gases
usually takes place when the animals are in water. Carbon dioxide is diffused out
of their skin and oxygen absorbed from the water.

Insects
• The trachea is considered as the breathing organ.
• Air goes to spiracles (tiny holes) on their skin
• Open transport system

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 Fish
• Gills – environmental adaptation
(water)
• Gills are protected by flaps of
operculum made up of lamellae
• Lamellae contain capillaries
• Lung fish - these fishes have
lungs that are derived from the
swim bladder (an organ used for
buoyancy in most bony fishes),
which is connected to the
alimentary tract. The inner
surfaces of these air-breathing
organs are covered with a great
number of honeycomb-like
cavities supplied with fine blood
vessels.

Gas Exchange in Plants

Roots
• Happens in root hairs
• Root hairs increase surface area
• Requires soil to be aerated and moist.
• Root hairs are almost always turgid
because their solute potential is greater
than that of the surrounding soil due to
mineral ions being actively pumped
into the cells.

Leaves
• Stomata (holes) - tiny openings or pores in
plant tissue that allow for gas exchange.
Stomata are typically found in plant leaves
but can also be found in some stems.
• Transpiration from the leaves, which creates
a pull on the water columns, indirectly plays
a role in helping water, with its dissolved
ions, enter the root cells.
• At night, when the relative humidity may
approach 100%, there may be no
transpiration. Under these circumstances, the
negative pressure component of water
potential becomes small or nonexistent.

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Stem
• Lenticels - one of many raised pores
in the stem of a woody plant that
allows gas exchange between the
atmosphere and the internal tissues.

TYPES OF PLANTS BASED ON THEIR LIVING ENVIRONMENTS:

1. Xerophytes – dry environments (ex: succulents)

2. Hydrophytes – on the surface of water (ex: water lilies)
3. Halophytes – saline water (ex: cordgrasses)

PNEUMATOPHORES

These plants have pneumatophores which are also called aerial roots. when submerged
in water these roots stay on top of water to be able to exchange gas. Their roots are impermeable,
so salt from these saline waters cannot get into the roots. They also stop their stomata from
opening too many times too be able to stop water loss in leaves.

-End of Topic 2: Nutrition and Gas Exchange in Plants and Animals-

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