Animal Water Regulation

Evolutionary adaptations have addressed this difficulty since the fish would not be able to function with such a high quantity of water in their system. The kidneys that deal with water uptake are well-suited to the job because the glomerulus of the kidney has a high surface area that helps to lower the concentration of water in the blood. Because these renal tubules enable large-scale ion movements out of the circulation, the organism must actively transport some essential ions like salt back into the bloodstream.

This osmoregulation may be compared to how glycogen is stored in the human kidney, because the homeostatic mechanisms in this area are largely responsible for ensuring that the circumstances inside the organism are suitable for the demands placed on it. Due to the pressure created by the water, excess water within such a creature would harm the internal organs beyond repair by ruining the cell membrane and organelles.

Animals that dwell in the ocean have the reverse difficulty, since the salty water means that the water concentration is lower than that of most creatures. As a result, the organism is hypertonic to its external environment (has a greater water content), and it must re-absorb water in order to maintain its health. These animals have benefited from evolutionary adaptation, and their kidneys have been physically changed through time to ensure their long-term survival.

In contrast to freshwater creatures, such species’ glomeruli have a considerably lower surface area since the requirement to expel ions into the external environment is not as great, and most water must be kept for survival. Because the salt-water environment may be consumed, and therefore is not as scarce as it would be for a freshwater creature, there is no need for re-absorption.

To continue to operate correctly and efficiently, these organisms must maintain an ideal water content in their internal environment. Water is rare in more severe conditions, such as the desert, and water must be conserved in case of need, which is why camels have humps. Sweat may lose a lot of water, especially in extremely hot conditions or during hard activity. We also lose a lot of water through urine and faeces.

Many of our biological functions also require water, therefore it is an exhaustible resource for these ongoing activities. When the temperature gets hot, certain species, such as the kangaroo rat, go into extended periods of hibernation, which causes the rat to lose more water through respiration than it can afford.

The rat sleeps underground under wet circumstances, where the concentration of water in the air and the rat’s lungs is at its lowest, allowing the least amount of water to escape to the outside world. All of these adaptations are meant to help organisms thrive more comfortably in their current environment, and without them, some species on the planet may not have made it this far.