Respiratory system

Respiratory system, the system in living organisms that takes up oxygen and discharges carbon dioxide in order to satisfy energy requirements. In the living organism, energy is liberated, along with carbon dioxide, through the oxidation of molecules containing carbon. The term respiration denotes the exchange of the respiratory gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide) between the organism and the medium in which it lives and between the cells of the body and the tissue fluid that bathes them.

With the exception of energy used by animal life in the deep ocean, all energy used by animals is ultimately derived from the energy of sunlight. The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in conjunction with the energy of sunlight is used by plants to synthesize sugars and other components. Animals consume plants or other organic material to obtain chemical compounds, which are then oxidized to sustain vital processes.

This article considers the gaseous components of air and water, the natural respiratory habitats of animals, and the basic types of respiratory structures that facilitate gas exchange in these environments.

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Although the acquisition of oxygen and the elimination of carbon dioxide are essential requirements for all animals, the rate and amount of gaseous exchange vary according to the kind of animal and its state of activity. In the Table the oxygen consumption of various animals is expressed in terms of millilitres of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per hour, reflecting the gas demands of different species at rest and in motion. A change in the chemical composition of the body fluids elicits a response from the central nervous system, which then excites or depresses the machinery of external respiration.

The gases in the environment

The range of respiratory problems faced by aquatic and terrestrial animals can be seen from the varying composition and physical characteristics of water and air. Air contains about 20 times the amount of oxygen found in air-saturated water. In order to extract an equivalent amount of oxygen as an air breather, an aquatic animal may find it necessary to pass across the respiratory surfaces a relatively larger volume of the external medium. Moreover, the diffusion rate of oxygen is much lower in water than in air. The problem is further compounded by the higher density (1,000 times air) and viscosity (100 times air) of water, which impose on the machinery of aquatic respiration a much greater work load. Thus, fish may expend about 20 percent of their total oxygen consumption in running the respiratory pump, as compared with about 1 to 2 percent in mammals, including humans.

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The Human Body

The carbon dioxide content of most natural waters is low compared with air, often almost nil. In contrast to oxygen, carbon dioxide is extremely soluble in water and diffuses rapidly. Most of the carbon dioxide entering water combines either with the water (to form carbonic acid) or with other substances (to form carbonates or bicarbonates). This buffering capacity maintains a low level of free carbon dioxide and facilitates the maintenance of a favourable diffusion gradient for carbon dioxide exchange by water breathers. In general, oxygen exchange, which is strongly dependent on the oxygen content of the water, is more critically limiting for aquatic forms than is the exchange of carbon dioxide.

Temperature exerts a profound effect on the solubility of gases in water. A change from 5° to 35° C (41° to 95° F) reduces the oxygen content of fresh water by nearly half. At the same time, a rise in body temperature produces an increase in oxygen consumption among animals that do not closely regulate their body temperatures (so-called cold-blooded animals). A fish experiencing both rising water and body temperatures is under a double handicap: more water must be pumped across its gill surfaces to extract the same amount of oxygen as was needed at the lower temperature; and the increased metabolism requires greater quantities of oxygen.

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The amount of oxygen available in natural waters is also limited by the amount of dissolved salts. This factor is a determinant of oxygen availability in transitional zones between sea and fresh water. Pure water, when equilibrated with oxygen at 0° C, for example, contains about 50 millilitres of oxygen per litre; under the same conditions, a solution containing 2.9 percent of sodium chloride contains only 40 millilitres of oxygen per litre. Bodies of water may have oxygen-poor zones. Such zones are especially evident in swamps and at the lower levels of deep lakes. Many animals are excluded from such zones; others have become remarkably adapted to living in them.

The Earth’s atmosphere extends to a height of many miles. It is composed of a mixture of gases held in an envelope around the globe by gravitational attraction. The atmosphere exerts a pressure proportional to the weight of a column of air above the surface of the Earth extending to the limit of the atmosphere: atmospheric pressure at sea level is on average sufficient to support a column of mercury 760 millimetres in height (abbreviated as 760 mm Hg—the latter being the chemical symbol for mercury). Dry air is composed chiefly of nitrogen and inert gases (79.02 percent), oxygen (20.94 percent), and carbon dioxide (0.03 percent), each contributing proportionately to the total pressure. These percentages are relatively constant to about 80.5 kilometres in altitude. At sea level and a barometric pressure of 760 millimetres of mercury, the partial pressure of nitrogen is 79.02 percent of 760 millimetres of mercury, or 600.55 millimetres of mercury; that of oxygen is 159.16 millimetres of mercury; and that of carbon dioxide is 0.20 millimetres of mercury.

The existence of water vapour in a gas mixture reduces the partial pressures of the other component gases but does not alter the total pressure of the mixture. The importance of water-vapour pressure to gas composition can be appreciated from the fact that at the body temperature of humans (37° C, or 98.6° F) the atmospheric air drawn into the lungs becomes saturated with water vapour. The water-vapour pressure at 37° C is 47 millimetres of mercury. To calculate the partial pressures of the respiratory gases, this value must be subtracted from the atmospheric pressure. For oxygen, 760 (the atmospheric pressure) - 47 = 713 millimetres of mercury, and 713 × 0.209 (the percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere) = 149 millimetres of mercury; this amounts to some 10 millimetres of mercury lower than the partial pressure of oxygen in dry air at 760 millimetres of mercury total pressure.

Atmospheric pressures fall at higher altitudes, but the composition of the atmosphere remains unchanged. At 7,600 metres (25,000 feet) the atmospheric pressure is 282 millimetres of mercury and the partial pressure of oxygen is about 59 millimetres of mercury. Oxygen continues to constitute only 20.94 percent of the total gas present. The rarefaction of the air at high altitudes not only limits the availability of oxygen for the air breather, it also limits its availability for aquatic forms, since the amount of dissolved gas in water decreases in parallel with the decline in atmospheric pressure. Lake Titicaca in Peru is at an altitude of about 3,810 metres; one litre of lake water at this altitude (and at 20° C, or 68° F) holds four millilitres of oxygen in solution; at sea level, it would hold 6.4.

The variations in the characteristics of air and water suggest the many problems with which the respiratory systems of animals must cope in procuring enough oxygen to sustain life.