Large animals need specialized organs for gas exchange because ________.
A) they require more oxygen per unit of volume
B) surface area increases more rapidly than volume as size increases
C) volume increases more rapidly than surface area as size increases
D) they collect more energy and therefore have more energy to allocate to specialized tissues

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

As the size of an organism increases, volume increases more rapidly than surface area. This means that larger organisms have a lower surface area-to-volume ratio, making it more difficult to exchange gases across their body surface alone. Therefore, large animals require specialized structures such as lungs or gills to facilitate gas exchange.

Large Animals Need Specialized Organs for Gas Exchange Because ________