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Osmolarity Lab Report

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To osmo- regulate properly in a marine habitat, physiological mechanisms intended to conserve fresh water and thus avoid dehydration are required. Marine mammals are well adapted to their hyper-osmotic environment. Their cells need to maintain both a water balance and an ion balance and life depends on the maintenance of the transmembrane potential. The concentration of potassium ions is higher in cells than on the extracellular fluid (ECF) and the concentration of sodium ions is higher in the extracellular fluid.

Osmolarity is describes the total solute concentration. A condition in which the total number of solutes (i.e. permeable and impermeable) in a solution is the same or equal to the total solutes in another solution. If two solutions of similar osmolarity are separated by a semi-permeable membrane, there is no tendency for the solvent to move from one compartment to another. Hypo osmotic and hyper osmotic solutions have a lower and higher osmolalities, respectively. Isotonicity, hypotonicity and hypertonicity describe the effects of osmolality across a semipermeable membrane (Brooker, 2008). …show more content…

Osmoconformers use diffusion to help regulate the concentration of water internally and externally. Their cell walls are quite permeable, so when exposed to fresh water, they are exposed to a dilution of their body fluids and this results in a loss of salts. Some have adapted to be able to withstand temporary or even permanent dilution of the blood (McCarthy,

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