#terrestrialanimal

[dubeed84]

Snowcat #snow #cat #felidae #carnivore #grey #smalltomedium-sizedcats #whiskers #water #terrestrialanimal #freezing #snout #tail #winter #darkness #grass #fur #wildlife #domesticshort-hairedcat #night #bobcat #instawinter #instasnow #animal #animallovers #animalphotography #animalsofinstagram #catsofinstagram #photography #dubeedphotography #canon4000d (у месту Planet Earth) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKezKi0HvEd/?igshid=1a3mk537ts2h3

[earthstory]

Influence of the environment: The Marine, Freshwater and Terrestrial Environments.

The physical properties of salt water, freshwater and air have important implications for anatomy, physiology and behaviour of the animals inhabiting them. Let us take a look at the main features of marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments and their effects on animal life.

Post Three: The terrestrial environment

The terrestrial environment is our home, home to humans, so it can be hard to accept that it is the harshest of the three main environments. To begin with, compared to water there is little buoyancy, so all terrestrial animals require some form of skeleton strong enough to enable support and movement on land. Extremes in temperature are much more common, requiring biochemical, physiological or behavioural adaptations to cope with them.

All land animals also face the problem of significant water loss by evaporation. To control this, their body coverings must offer a more permeable barrier between internal and external environments than is common in marine and freshwater animals. It is also critical for terrestrial animals to locate their respiratory surfaces inside the body, or to protect them from desiccation if they remain external. Surfaces permeable to oxygen and carbon dioxide are also permeable to water, so evaporative water loss would be great if respiration occurred on the outside of the body. If respiratory surfaces are internal, with only a small external opening, evaporative water loss can be reduced. The few terrestrial animals such as snails and earthworms that use the body surface for respiration protect it with mucous secretions to reduce water loss. Behavioural adaptations such as burrowing may also be important in reducing evaporation across the external body surface.

Land animals can also conserve water when excreting nitrogenous wastes. It would be extremely wasteful to excrete ammonia because of the large volume of water required to keep it dilute and non-toxic, so energy is expended to convert ammonia to urea (in mammals) or uric acid (reptiles and birds; birds excrete their faeces and ‘urea’ at the same time to conserve energy, in the form of uric acid). Despite the energy cost, these compounds are less toxic so less water is needed to remove them.

Lastly, fertilisation must be internal in terrestrial animals, because the gametes could not survive and fuse without water. This in turn may require elaborate courtship behaviour as I am sure many of you who have watched Nat Geo Animal Planet or Sir David Attenborough would have certainly seen some of this behaviour! Young may be born alive, or eggs laid in an enclosed protective coat or located in a moist spot. The eggs cannot obtain water-soluble nutrients from their surrounding environment, so all nutrients necessary for development must be available within the egg. Larvae are rare in terrestrial animals, but insects are a significant exception.

So, we can see that terrestrial animals must support their bodies in the absence of significant buoyancy and that water loss is also a significant problem that has to be overcome. There is no disputing the fact that the marine environment is indeed the easiest environment to live in, but that there is no escaping the fact that life, no matter where it lives, needs water in one way or another.

It makes you think hard about the possibility of life elsewhere in the Universe, and the fact that many animals tend to survive if not thrive in environments where there is ample water available. Food for thought indeed.

Thanks for reading.

~ JM

Photo Credit: Photo and caption by Rebecca Langford, National Geographic. Sourced fromhttp://on.natgeo.com/1JZNR3W on 21/04/2015

More Info:

Gordon, M.S and Olsen, E.C. (1995). Invasions of the land: the transition of organisms from aquatic to terrestrial life. Columbia University Press, New York. Pechenik, J.A. (2005). Biology of the invertebrates. McGraw-Hill, Boston. 5th edn, Chapter 1. The Living Environment: http://bit.ly/1yK6pnv The Terrestrial Environment: http://bit.ly/1GcWUQz

[mahbub-joy]

#wildlife #deer #antler #white-tailedDeer #tree #leaf #horn #woodland #terrestrialAnimal #snout #fawn #forest #branch #plant #wood #reindeer #tail #trunk #video #videos #resplash https://www.instagram.com/p/B-umlFCjFOL/?igshid=ofgpcnvrdrfj

[maybeidontevenexist]

babe 🖤

[albertd98]

[cannavists]

Snailing the walls….lol #Brickwork #Brick #Asphalt #Wall #TerrestrialAnimal #TintsAndShades #Pattern #Rectangle #mrmauiwaui #cannavist #letOurPeopleGrow #FreedomOfSpeech #SweetIslandSativa #420 #710 #cannabis #Apparel #t_shirts #cannabiscommunity #hoodiegang #TheOriginal820 #growflowers #savethebees #cannavist™️ #CannaFam #ClimateChange #EarthFirst #NoWarWithUkraine #I_Stand_Wth_The_Ukraine #mmj (at San Diego, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CiWLc7OJ9pO/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[giri9890]

Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws!!! . . . #primate #organism #fawn #terrestrialanimal #adaptation #rhesusmacaque #macaque #snout #wildlife #grass #jungle #paw #soil #art #visualarts #beautiful #illustration #creative #instaart #abstracto #gallery #sketchbook #masterpiece #graphic #instagood #motherhood #motherlove #mothernature #motherearth #ootydiaries (at Kallar-Ooty) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLQU0HonVKR/?igshid=mdyhnbki2xwo

[757teez]

Lion King 👑 #lion #bengaltiger #smalltomediumsizedcats #terrestrialanimal #illustration #symmetry #symbol #whiskers #1million #tigerking #dojacat #catwalk #visualart #cat #1millionaudition #life #catsofinstagram #draw #drawing #animals #bigbilliondays #bigbillionstar #757teez #757 (at Hampton, Virginia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CI_Fz2BDv90/?igshid=iskkjw6lhb7z