Question

(a) Why is diffusion insufficient to meet the oxygen requirements of large multicellular organisms like humans ?
(b) What type of arrangement exists in the bodies of large animals to meet their oxygen requirements adequately ?
(c) What advantage a terrestrial animal has over an aquatic animal with regard to obtaining oxygen for respiration ?

Answer 1

(a) Diffusion is insufficient to meet the oxygen requirements of large multicellular organisms like humans because the volume of human body is so big that the oxygen cannot diffuse into all the cells of the human body quickly and oxygen will have to travel large distances to reach each and every cell of the body.
(b) Large organisms contain a respiratory pigment called haemoglobin which carries the oxygen from the lungs to all the body cells very efficiently.
(c) A terrestrial animal has an advantage over an aquatic animal in regard to obtaining oxygen for respiration that it is surrounded by an oxygen rich atmosphere from where it can take any amount of oxygen.