A student while working on a project regarding animals present in the polar regions found that almost all the animals are large. He rarely found animals that were small in size.
Smaller animals are rarely found in polar regions because
A student while working on a project regarding animals present in the polar regions found that almost all the animals are large. He rarely found animals that were small in size.
Smaller animals are rarely found in polar regions because
The correct option is A they rapidly lose a large amount of heat due to their large surface area compared to volume
Survival of life in different environmental conditions requires organisms to evolve different strategies to adapt to their environment.
Many organisms prefer changing their internal environment to conform to the changes in the external environment. These organisms are called conformers and they cannot maintain a constant internal environment.
But some organisms respond to the changes happening in their external environment by maintaining a steady state internally. These organisms are called regulators. Organisms such as birds and mammals are considered regulators which maintain a constant internal environment (homeostasis) at all times irrespective of the changes in the external environment.
This stability is in terms of a constant osmotic concentration of body fluids, constant body temperature, etc.
However, in small animals, maintaining a constant temperature requires a lot of energy. This is because they have a large surface area compared to their volume and loss or gain of heat is a function of the surface area of an organism. Larger surface area implies that more area of the organism's body is exposed to the surroundings, leading to more heat loss. Thus, these organisms tend to lose heat very fast when it is cold outside. It requires a lot of energy to generate the lost body heat. Due to a small volume, they cannot generate a sufficient amount of heat to keep themselves warm. Therefore, small animals are usually not found in polar regions.
Survival of life in different environmental conditions requires organisms to evolve different strategies to adapt to their environment.
Many organisms prefer changing their internal environment to conform to the changes in the external environment. These organisms are called conformers and they cannot maintain a constant internal environment.
But some organisms respond to the changes happening in their external environment by maintaining a steady state internally. These organisms are called regulators. Organisms such as birds and mammals are considered regulators which maintain a constant internal environment (homeostasis) at all times irrespective of the changes in the external environment.
This stability is in terms of a constant osmotic concentration of body fluids, constant body temperature, etc.
However, in small animals, maintaining a constant temperature requires a lot of energy. This is because they have a large surface area compared to their volume and loss or gain of heat is a function of the surface area of an organism. Larger surface area implies that more area of the organism's body is exposed to the surroundings, leading to more heat loss. Thus, these organisms tend to lose heat very fast when it is cold outside. It requires a lot of energy to generate the lost body heat. Due to a small volume, they cannot generate a sufficient amount of heat to keep themselves warm. Therefore, small animals are usually not found in polar regions.
