1
Question
Consider the following statements.
Assertion: Animals like shrews and hummingbirds are conformers.
Reason: These animals have large volume compared to their surface area leading to rapid heat loss from the body.
Consider the following statements.
Assertion: Animals like shrews and hummingbirds are conformers.
Reason: These animals have large volume compared to their surface area leading to rapid heat loss from the body.
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Solution
The correct option is C Assertion is true but the reason is false
Homeostasis can be defined as the ability of organisms to maintain a stable internal environment. Stable internal environments are required for proper cell functioning as enzymes are highly temperature and pH sensitive and require optimal conditions to function properly.
Based on whether an organism can maintain a constant internal environment, they can be classified as conformers and regulators.
- Conformers are organisms that cannot maintain a constant internal environment. They adopt different strategies to survive in different environmental conditions.
- Regulators are organisms that can maintain a constant internal environment. Mammals and birds use energy to maintain a constant internal environment even though their external environment is changing.
Small animals like shrews and hummingbirds are conformers and are not able to maintain a constant internal environment. 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.
Such animals requires a lot of energy input to maintain a constant internal environment, which is not feasible. Therefore, they do not regulate their temperature and hence their internal environment relies on external environment.
Therefore, small animals are conformers as their volume is less compared to their surface area which makes them incapable of generating sufficient heat to maintain constant internal conditions and more surface area is exposed to the external environment leading to rapid heat loss from the body.
Thus, the assertion is a true statement but the reason is a false statement.
Homeostasis can be defined as the ability of organisms to maintain a stable internal environment. Stable internal environments are required for proper cell functioning as enzymes are highly temperature and pH sensitive and require optimal conditions to function properly.
Based on whether an organism can maintain a constant internal environment, they can be classified as conformers and regulators.
- Conformers are organisms that cannot maintain a constant internal environment. They adopt different strategies to survive in different environmental conditions.
- Regulators are organisms that can maintain a constant internal environment. Mammals and birds use energy to maintain a constant internal environment even though their external environment is changing.
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.
Such animals requires a lot of energy input to maintain a constant internal environment, which is not feasible. Therefore, they do not regulate their temperature and hence their internal environment relies on external environment.
Therefore, small animals are conformers as their volume is less compared to their surface area which makes them incapable of generating sufficient heat to maintain constant internal conditions and more surface area is exposed to the external environment leading to rapid heat loss from the body.
Thus, the assertion is a true statement but the reason is a false statement.
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