DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY, FACULTY OF NATURAL AND APPLIED

SCIENCES, UMARU MUSA YAR’ADUA UNIVERSITY, KATSINA

BIO 102 (GENERAL BIOLOGY II) LECTURE NOTE 8

PHYSIOLOGY OVERVIEW

TRANSPORTATION

The distribution of food and oxygen to all parts of the body as well as removal of
body wastes is performed by a transport system within the body of all living
organisms. Our body also secretes many hormones, which have to be carried to their
target organs. The flow of fluid (blood or lymph) within the body for transport
purposes is termed circulation and the organs for circulation constitute circulatory
system.

Transportation in plants

In plants, transportation of materials like food, water and minerals takes place through
conducting tissues called xylem and phloem.
i) Xylem :- transports water and minerals from the roots to all parts of the plant. It
consists of xylem vessels and tracheids. Water and minerals enter the roots by
diffusion. Then due to transpiration, the suction force helps in the upward movement
of water an minerals.

ii) Phloem :- transports food from the leaves to the other parts of the plant. This
process is called translocation. The phloem consists of sieve tubes and companion
cells. Food from the leaves is transferred to the xylem by the energy of ATP
molecules. Due to osmotic pressure water enters the phloem and helps in the transport
of food.

1
Transport of Materials in Plants

(i) Transport of water

Roots of plants take up water and minerals from the soil. How does this water move
up from roots to leaves for photosynthesis?
Tracheids and vessels, which are non-living cells of xylem, transport water picked up
by root hairs from soil to the leaves.
The upward movement of water and minerals from soil termed ‘ascent of sap’ is
against gravity and is due to transpiration pull. Transpiration is the process in which a
lot of water evaporates (as water vapour) from stomata. This evaporation creates a
vacuum and pulls up water through the xylem. This is transpiration pull.
(ii) Transport of food material
Sugars and other food molecules synthesized in the leaves are transported to other
parts of the plant through phloem. Sieve tubes are living cells of the phloem, which
transport food. Transport of food material from leaves to other parts of the plant is
called translocation. This food may then be stored in fruits, stem or roots.

TRANSPORTATION IN HUMAN BEINGS

Human circulatory system consists of :

(i) Centrally located muscular pump called heart, and
(ii) Blood vessels, which are tube-like structures, connected to the heart
Blood vessels are of three kinds:
• Arteries: Carry blood from heart to various parts of body.
• Veins: Bring blood from various parts of body to the heart.
• Capillaries: Thin vessels between the artery and the vein.
Thecapillariesallowtheexchange of materials between blood and tissues.
(iii) Circulating fluid—blood,tissue fluid and lymph

2
Circulatory Medium

Our body has three different types of fluids

1. Blood—found in heart and blood vessels (arteries, veins and capillaries)
Blood is a connective tissue that circulates throughout the body. It is made up of a
fluid medium called plasma in which float two types of blood cells, called red blood
cells, white blood cells and cell fragments called blood platelets. Blood cells are
manufactured in the bone marrow.

2. Tissue fluid—found in spaces between cells in organs

3. Lymph—found in lymph vessels and lymphatic organs (e.g. spleen and tonsils)
Lympthatic system
Lymph is also a circulatory fluid and flows in the lymph vessels.
• It is light yellow in colour.
• It always flows only in one direction from tissues to heart.
• Cells called lymphocytes present in lymph eat up germs and prevent body from
infections.
• It returns proteins and fluids from circulation to tissues.

Hearts of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fishes :-

i) The heart in mammals :- and birds have four chambers and the right and left
sides of the heart is separated by a septum. This prevents mixing of oxygenated
and deoxygenated blood and provides efficient supply of oxygen. This is
necessary because they need more energy to maintain their body temperature.
ii) The heart in amphibians and reptiles :- have three chambers and allows some
mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood because the do not use energy to
maintain their body temperature. Their body temperature is the same as the
temperature of the surroundings.
iii) The heart in fishes :- have only two chambers and blood is oxygenated in the
gills.

3
4
EXCRETION
Living organisms sustain life, based on certain life processes, These life processes
help to regulate their daily activities. Excretion is one among them. The metabolism
takes place in the cells of living organisms resulting in both useful and toxic products.
The accumulation of toxins may harm
the organism Thus, the living organisms remove all these metabolic wastes from their
body and this process is called excretion. Different organisms follow different modes
of excretion. Let's have a glance it excretion in plants and how excretion in plants is
different from that of animals.
Excretion is the process by which these waste and excess substances are removed
from the organism.

Excretion in Plants

Elimination of toxic and waste products from the body is called excretion. Organisms
like animals have an advanced and specialized system for excretion. But plants lack a
well-developed excretory system like that in animals, They do not have special organs
for excretion, Thus, excretion in plants is not so complex.

Excretory products

The cellular respiration, photosynthesis, and other metabolic reactions produce a lot
excretory products in plants, Carbon dioxide, excess water produced during
respiration and nitrogenous compounds produced during protein metabolism are the
major excretory products in plants.
Plants produce two gaseous waste products i.c. oxygen during photosynthesis and
carbon dioxide during respiration. Excretion of gaseous waste in plants takes place
through stomatal pores on leaves. Oxygen released during photosynthesis is used for
respiration white carbon dioxide released during respiration is used for
photosynthesis.
Excess of water is also excreted from the plant body through the stomatal pores and
from the surfaces of fruits and stems. The process of elimination of water is called
transpiration and guttation.
Some waste products are stored in the leaves and removed when the leaves dry and
fall off. Some waste products are stored in vacuoles. Some waste products like gums
and resins are stored in the old xylem cells. Some waste products are removed
through the roots

What are the waste products of plants? How do plants dispose their waste products?
Actually plant use their waste product for their survival or for protection. And they
dispose their waste product by simple secretion method.
In Plants there are two types of metabolism pathway
1. Primary metabolism pathway-product of primary metabolism are such as

5
carbohydrates. sugar, Amino acid, ATP are called as primary metabolites. Plant use
this product for their growth and development.
2. Second type of metabolism called as Secondary metabolism pathway produce
secondary metabolites such as Alkaloids, Terpenoids, Phenols, Flavonoids etc
Most of the secondary metabolites are consider as waste product for plant but not all.
Plant use these secondary metabolites for their survival. Plant use these metabolites
against herbivores animal. It protects the plant form many insect damage by secretion
Plants store these secondary metabolites in form of ducts, glands or in trichomes Ex-
glandular trichomes

Excretion in Animals

The process of excretion also removes excess heat from the body, thus helping to keep
the temperature of the body constant.
In human and other complex animals, The organs of excretion are the lungs, kidneys,
liver, and skin. These organs work with the circulatory, nervous, and endocrine system
to keep the body's

Classification of animals on basis of types of nitrogenous compounds excreted

1. Ammonotelic - The animals of this group excrete nitrogen mainly in the forn of
ammonia. E.g. certain unicellular animals, teleosts, tadpoles, polycheate annelids, etc.
I. Creotelic - In these animals, nitrogen excreted predominantly in the form of urea,
c.g. mammals, amphibians, Among fishes, both ammonotelic and ureotelic
metabolism are present.
111. Uricotelic - Animals are described as being uricotelic when nitrogen is exereted
predominantly in the form of uric acid, e.g. birds, insects, lizards, snakes, and some
gastropods.

Humans must get rid of two types of wastes. Wastes from the digestive systam
(feaces) nod waster
from metabolic activities (sweat and urine)

Major Metabolic Wastes

Excretory product Organ Mode of excretion

Carbon dioxide Lungs Exhalation
Urea and excess mineral Kidneys Urine
salts Skin Sweat
Excess water Kidneys Urine
Skin Sweat
Lungs Expired Air

6
Excretory product Organ Mode of excretion
Bile pigments(from Liver Faeces
breakdown of
haemoglobin)

HUMAN EXCRETORY ORGANS

THE SKIN excretes the sweat outside the body through numerous pores in the
surface of this organ. Sweat is a mixture of three metabolic wastes: water, salts, and
urea.
THE LUNGS as an respiratory organs through which living organism respires to
produce energy in form of ATP for cellular activities. As repertory occur carbon
dioxide is produced as a waste product.
THE LIVER as an excretory organ acts to breakdown some proteins and other
nitrogenous compounds by a process called deamination.

THE URINARY SYSTEM IN HUMAN (THE KIDNEY)

Excretion means the separation and elimination of waste materials from the body
through a special structure called the excretory organ.
The major functions of the excretory systems can be summarizes as follows:
1. Maintenance of proper concentrations of individual ions (Nat, K+, Cl-, Ht, ete.).
2. Maintenance of proper body volume by regulating water content.
3. Maintenance of osmotic concentrations, which result from the ability of the
excretory systems to control water and electrolytes contents in the body.
4. Removal of metabolic end products (e.g., urea, uric acid, etc.).
5. Removal of foreign substances and/or their metabolic products