Biology (11th Edition)

Published by McGraw-Hill Education
ISBN 10: 1259188132
ISBN 13: 978-1-25918-813-8

Chapter 48 - The Respiratory System - Review Questions - Synthesize - Page 1019: 3

Answer

The organisms listed do not need respiratory organs since they are unicellular, with proportionally very large external surface area. This allows for sufficient gas exchange by simple diffusion to meet their needs.

Work Step by Step

From Fick's Law (p.1004), surface area is a critical feature for this exchange, and, when you consider these things (look at images of flatworms and ciliates in earlier chapters, as examples), you see that they already have lots of surface area across which diffusion can occur.
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