Respiration in Animals

At the end of the lecture, students should be able to:

• List the major types of respiratory organs and their

properties that enhance respiration.

• Describe correctly how gills are ventilated in fish.

• Describe correctly open respiratory system in some

terrestrial and aquatic insects.
• List some adaptations that enhance respiration in selected
terrestrial and aquatic insects.

• Note differences in respiration in amphibians, birds and

mammals.
 Respiration in Animals
Respiratory organs
• Three major types: gills, lungs and tracheae
Gills
• Generally, if respiratory surface is turned out (forming
evagination) it is called a gill.

• Effective respiratory organ

- Large surface area & thin cuticle

• Not suitable for atmospheric respiration

- cannot support their weight in air (not rigid enough)
- surfaces of gills tend to stick together
- surface area reduced considerably
• Most fish, when out of water, rapidly become asphyxiated.
 Respiration in Animals

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 Respiration in Animals
Some animals can use gills to respire in air
• E.g. Land crabs.
• Coconut crab (Birgus latro): gills are rigid enough for
respiration in air.
• Gills enclosed in a chamber underneath carapace.
• Crabs keep water flowing through gills when in water
• O2 molecules dissolve into a layer of moisture around gill
membrane, & absorbed into blood.
• On land, they keep gills wet by sealing gill chamber
• They seek out cool, moist, dark hiding places (to avoid predators) &
keep breathing.
 Respiration in Animals

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 Respiration in Animals
Ventilation of gills
• Movement of gills through water.
- practical only for small organisms as in mayfly larvae
• Movement of water over gills.
- E.g. by ciliary action as in clams
• Rapid swimming with mouth open to allow water flow
over gills (ram ventilation)
- E.g. Large tunas and whale sharks
• Pumping action of mouth & opercular covers (aided by
mouth & opercular valves
- mouth & opercular valves control water flow over gills
- E.g. teleost fish (bony fish of subclass Teleostei)
.
 Respiration in Animals
Ventilation of gills

• Many fish breathe by pumping at low speed & ram ventilation at

high speed.
 Breathing in Animals

Invertebrate trachea
• Open respiratory system
- Composed of spiracles, tracheae, and tracheoles that terrestrial
arthropods have evolved to transport metabolic gases to and from tissues.

Tracheae
• Respiratory organ characteristic of insects
• System of tubes that branch to all parts of the body
• Convey respiratory gases directly to & from cells by diffusion.
• May also be connected to air sacs in the head, thorax, or abdomen

Tracheoles
• Smallest tubes, moist, penetrate cells & serve as sites of diffusion for water,
oxygen & carbon dioxide. Oxygen first dissolves in liquid and diffuses into
cytoplasm of adjacent cell.
 Breathing in Animals

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 Breathing in Animals

• In general each body segment can have no more than one

pair of spiracles (9 pairs on abdomen & 3 pairs on thorax).

• Gases may be transported by active ventilation or passive

diffusion.
- Many insects E.g. grasshoppers & bees actively pump the
air sacs in their abdomen.

• Unlike vertebrates, insects do not generally carry oxygen in

their haemolymph.
 Respiration in Animals
Cuticular respiration
• Many aquatic species have a relatively thin integument
permeable to oxygen (and carbon dioxide).
• Diffusion of gases through body wall may be sufficient e.g. in
small, inactive insects.
• Larger and more active insects or those living in less
oxygenated water may need to rely on additional adaptations
for respiration.
Biological gill
• An organ that allows dissolved oxygen to diffuse into an
organism's body.
 Respiration in Animals
• In insects, gills are usually outgrowths of the tracheal system.
• Gills are leaf-like and located on the sides or rear of the
abdomen in mayflies and damselflies.
• Fanning movements of gills keep them in contact with a
constant supply of fresh water.
• Dragonflies rather have internal gills
associated with the rectum.
- Water circulates in and out of anus by
muscular contractions of abdomen.
- Rectal gill mechanism doubles as a jet
propulsion system to escape
Mayfly nymph
from predators. cals.ncsu.edu
 Respiration in Animals
Air Bubble
• Some aquatic insects (e.g. diving beetles) carry a bubble of air
with them whenever they dive beneath water surface.
• Air bubble may be held under the elytra (wing covers) or
trapped against body by specialized hairs.
• It covers one or more spiracles
• It can take up dissolved oxygen by
physical diffusion.
• but the size of bubble shrinks over
time as nitrogen slowly diffuses out into
the water.
 Respiration in Animals
• Breathing tubes (siphons)
- E.g. In mosquito larvae, the siphon tube is an extension of
posterior spiracles.
- siphon’s opening is guarded by a ring of closely spaced
hydrophobic hairs (break surface tension).
- Under water, water pressure pushes the hairs close
together to seal off the opening.
 Respiration in Animals
Plastron
• A respiratory device with special array of rigid, closely-spaced
hydrophobic hairs (setae) that create an airspace next to the
insect’s body.
• Hairs prevent water from entering airspace.
Air trapped within a plastron operates as a
physical gill (just like air in a bubble).

• But, insects that use plastron keep a constant quizlet.com

volume of gas that may slowly become replenished with oxygen.

• Insects permanently submerged e.g. riffle beetles, family

Elmidae).
 Respiration in Animals
Haemoglobin
• A respiratory pigment and essential component of all human
red blood cells, but it occurs only rarely in insects.
• It occurs most notably in the larvae of certain midges (family
Chironomidae) known as bloodworms.
• Bloodworms usually live in muddy depths of ponds or streams
where dissolved oxygen may be in short supply.
 Breathing in Animals
Summary
• Gills, lungs and tracheae are three major types of
respiratory organs.
• Large surface area, thin cuticle and high vascularization of
respiratory organs are important properties that enhance
respiration.
• Depending on oxygen demand, various organisms use
additional adaptations that enhance gaseous exchange
- e.g. Air sacs, biological gill, air bubble, plastron, Hb,
cuticle/skin.
• Gaseous exchange is fundamental to maintaining normal
metabolic processes for normal growth.
 Breathing in Animals
Amphibians
• Have both pulmonary and cutaneous respiratory systems
• Pulmonary Respiration
- Exchange of gases between lungs & air
• Use lungs on land e.g. toads and salamanders
• They lack diaphragms and force air into their lungs by moving
their mouth (like swallowing), buccal pumping.

• Buccal pumping is the sole means

of inflating the lungs in
amphibians.
 Breathing in Animals
Amphibians - Cutaneous respiration
• O2 taken into blood through the smooth, moist & highly
vascularized skin
• Very thin skin, allows water to go through it.
• E.g. Aquatic Amphibians and anurans. Frog.

• Gills (aquatic salamanders and tadpoles)

• Gills are lost when amphibians

undergo metamorphosis
into adult.

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 Breathing in Animals
Respiratory system in birds
• High oxygen demand due to high metabolic rate required for flight.

• Air sacs move air through respiratory system & allow lungs to maintain a
fixed volume of fresh air flowing constantly and in a single direction.

• The posterior and anterior air sacs, typically nine, inflate during inhalation
& deflate during exhalation.

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 Breathing in Animals
Respiratory system in birds
• Air passes through the lungs in both exhalation and
inspiration.
• No mixing of oxygen-rich air and oxygen-poor, carbon dioxide-
rich air as in mammalian lungs. Gaseous exchange is more
efficient.
• Pressure changes in air sacs due to contraction of sternum
muscles allow for air movement in and out of the bird.
 Breathing in Animals
Vertebrate respiratory system
• Ventilated by an in-and-out flow of air

Lungs
• Respiratory organ in vertebrates
• Mammalian lung much more finely divided into small sacs
(alveoli).
• Alveoli vastly increase surface area for gaseous exchange
- Essential for high rate of O2 uptake for high metabolic rate in
warm-blooded animals.
• In human lung, much of alveolar membrane is no more than
0.2 µm thick.
 Breathing in Animals
Respiratory apparatus

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 Breathing in Animals
Respiratory systems, mammals & birds
• Absence of large air sacs and the presence of a diaphragm in
mammals to pull oxygen into the lungs.
• Diaphragm contraction raises rib cage resulting in a negative
pressure that allows the lungs to expand and air to flow in.
• Mammalian lungs are less rigid than avian lungs.
• Also in human lungs the bronchi contain alveoli instead of air
capillaries.
• Higher efficiency of birds’ respiratory system allows flight at
higher altitudes, with inadequate oxygen, while still taking in
enough oxygen to function.
 Breathing in Animals
Summary
• Gills, lungs and tracheae are three major types of
respiratory organs.
• Large surface area, thin cuticle and high vascularization of
respiratory organs are important properties that enhance
respiration.
• Depending on oxygen demand, various organisms use
additional adaptations that enhance gaseous exchange
- e.g. Air sacs, biological gill, air bubble, plastron, Hb,
cuticle/skin.
• Gaseous exchange is fundamental to maintaining normal
metabolic processes for normal growth.