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Osmoregulator
Osmoregulation is the active regulation of the osmotic pressure of an organism's body fluids, detected by osmoreceptors, to maintain the homeostasis of the organism's water content; that is, it maintains the fluid balance and the concentration of electrolytes (salt (chemistry), salts in Solution (chemistry), solution which in this case is represented by body fluid) to keep the body fluids from becoming too diluted or concentrated. Osmotic pressure is a measure of the tendency of water to move into one Solution (chemistry), solution from another by osmosis. The higher the osmotic pressure of a solution, the more water tends to move into it. Pressure must be exerted on the Tonicity#Hypertonic solution, hypertonic side of a selectively permeable biological membrane, membrane to prevent diffusion of water by osmosis from the side containing pure water. Although there may be hourly and daily variations in osmotic balance, an animal is generally in an osmotic steady state over the long ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Osmoconformer
Osmoconformers are marine organisms that maintain an internal environment which is isotonic to their external environment. This means that the osmotic pressure of the organism's cells is equal to the osmotic pressure of their surrounding environment. By minimizing the osmotic gradient, this subsequently minimizes the net influx and efflux of water into and out of cells. Even though osmoconformers have an internal environment that is isosmotic to their external environment, the types of ions in the two environments differ greatly in order to allow critical biological functions to occur. An advantage of osmoconformation is that such organisms don’t need to expend as much energy as osmoregulators in order to regulate ion gradients. However, to ensure that the correct types of ions are in the desired location, a small amount of energy is expended on ion transport. A disadvantage to osmoconformation is that the organisms are subject to changes in the osmolarity of their enviro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
