Transport in Animals and Plants

• Blood carries oxygen, nutrients, hormones, waste products, and other materials to different parts of the body.
• There are two types of blood vessels: arteries (carry blood away from heart) and veins (return blood back to heart).
• Biomimetics or biomimicry is the simulation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems
• Water travels from the roots to the different parts of plants
• Transpiration is the loss of water vapor through leaves
• The xylem transports water and minerals upwards while phloem transports food downward
• Organisms which have a two-cell layer covering, get their supply of gases and excrete wastes via diffusion.
• The key player in transport for cnidarians is their single internal cavity called the gastrovascular cavity.
• The circulating fluid or hemolymph does not pass through enclosed tubes; instead, it is pumped by the heart to a network of channels and cavities.
• Closed Circulatory System: The blood or circulating fluid passes within blood vessels that transport blood away from and back to the heart.
• A septum divides the heart into two sides:

  The right side receives deoxygenated blood from different parts of the body.

  The left side receives oxygenated blood from the lungs.
• Insects are cold-blooded animals with an open circulatory system where the blood flows freely throughout the body without being confined to vessels.
• The upper chambers are called atria while the lower chambers are called ventricles.
• One-way valves called atrio-ventricular valves are located between the upper and lower chambers.
• Flow of Blood:

  superior & inferior vena cava>>>right atrium>>>tricuspid valve>>>right ventricle>>>pulmonary valve>>>pulmonary arteries>>>lungs>>>pulmonary veins>>>left atrium>>>mitral valve>>>left ventricle>>>aortic valve>>>aorta
• Red blood cells (erythrocytes) transport oxygen and carbon dioxide
• Neutrophils: Phagocytize (engulf and destroy) bacteria and other pathogens.
• Lymphocytes: Produce antibodies to target specific pathogens.
• Monocytes: Become macrophages that phagocytize pathogens and debris.
• Eosinophils: Attack parasitic infections and allergic reactions.
• Basophils: Release chemicals involved in allergic reactions and inflammation.
• Blood platelets (thrombocytes) are these small, cell fragments that play a crucial role in blood clotting.
• Blood Vessels serves as highways through which blood is circulated in the body.
• The three types of blood vessels: arteries, veins, and capillaries
• Arteries are thick-walled vessels which carry oxygenated blood.
• Veins are thinner vessels compared to arteries and they carry deoxygenated blood.
• Capillaries are the abundant microscopic blood vessels that carry blood throughout the tissues and organs, connecting the small arteries and veins.
• Pulmonary circulation is the movement of blood from the heart to the lungs, and back to the heart.
• Valves are flaps of tissues that prevent the backward flow or regurgitation of blood.
• The closure of valves create the sounds heard during auscultation, a medical term for the act of listening to internal sounds of the body that usually uses a stethoscope.
• Systemic circulation is the movement of blood from the heart to all other parts of the body except the lungs, and then back to the heart.
• Apoplast pathway: movement through the cell walls and the spaces between cells
• Symplast pathway: movement through a continuum of cytoplasm between cells called plasmodesma
• Transmembrane pathway: transport between cells across the membranes of vacuoles within cells
• Transpiration is the release of water vapor through openings in the leaves causes a pressure that pulls the water up
• Transpiration happens partly because of the cohesive forces between water molecules and the adhesive forces between water molecules and the walls of xylem vessels
• Water potential represents free energy or the potential to do work
• The process that transport food in plants is called translocation