The Importance Of Gas Exchange In Animals

Gas exchange is the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide across a membranous surface through diffusion, allowing oxygen to be extracted from the environment and transferred into the organism’s cells while carbon dioxide is simultaneously released from the cells. Efficient gas exchange is essential for the survival of animals (fish, insects, mammals) because it provides oxygen (required for cellular respiration) to the cells of the animal which is essential as respiration provides energy for the cells to live allowing the animal to survive, and because it releases carbon dioxide (waste product of respiration) from the body. Respiration is a chemical process that occurs in the mitochondria of living cells to release energy from food. Animals (fish, mammals, insects) mainly rely on aerobic respiration to release energy required for cellular processes. Aerobic respiration requires oxygen and produces carbon dioxide as a waste product so in animals (fish, mammals, insects) these two gases are exchanged across gas exchange surfaces. Breathing is a physical process involving muscular movements to move air or water over gas exchange surfaces which allows the oxygen from the environment and the carbon dioxide from the cells of the animal to reach the gas exchange surfaces. Since breathing is controlled by muscular movements, some animals can make these muscular movements more rapid, resulting in a faster rate of gas exchange which results in a higher rate of cellular respiration