What is the difference between respiration in aquatic organisms and terrestrial organism .
Terrestrial Respiration | Aquatic Respiration |
1 Respiration is through lungs | 1 Respiration is through gills. |
2 Air contains more oxygen so organism will not have to spend more energy | 2 Diffusion of oxygen is less in water so aquatic organism will have to spend more energy. |
Terrestrial animals can breathe the oxygen in the atmosphere, but animals that live in water need to use the oxygen dissolved in water. Since the amount of dissolved oxygen is fairly low compared to the amount of oxygen in the air, the rate of breathing in aquatic organisms is much faster than that seen in terrestrial organisms.
Terrestrial organisms take up oxygen from the atmosphere whereas aquatic animals obtain oxygen dissolved in water. Air contains more O2 as compared to water. Since the content of O2 in the air is high, the terrestrial animals do not have to breathe faster to get more oxygen. Therefore, unlike aquatic animals, terrestrial animals do not need adaptations for gaseous exchange and can adapt to a relaxed mode of breathing.