Investigation on Heat Loss in Organisms.

Investigation on Heat Loss in Organisms

Introduction: Heat loss is extremely important for all types of organism is

any habitat. The temperature of the body has to be correct otherwise the

organism will not be able to survive, so it is vital that organisms can control

factors to keep their body temperature at a safe, constant temperature.

Heat loss is so vital because it can easily kill an organism its temperature

rises or decreases by a certain amount, which could easily happen under the

worlds varying climate. In a cold habitat, obviously there is not a lot of heat

to be gained outside, so the heat inside the body of an organism has to be kept

by other methods, to keep the body temperature constant and at a safe

temperature. One method, is having a layer of fat to maintain the heat already

inside their bodies. However, a more important and influential fact, is that in

cold places such as the Arctic, you tend to only find large animals, such as

Polar Bears, and Penguins, with the smallest organisms being Arctic Foxes. This

means that they have less skin per cm3 of volume - and so have a smaller surface

area : volume ratio. This means that through their skin, they loose less heat

than that of smaller organisms, who have more skin per cm3 of volume. So, these

larger animals loose less body heat and so are suited to the colder conditions

of the arctic.

The same applies for the desert, at the other end of the extreme. The desert

contains generally quite small organisms, such as mice, gerbils, and snakes.

These organisms have more skin per cm3 volume, and so loose ...