Adaptations to Aquatic Environments Vocabulary

Specific Heat

The amount of energy required to raise the temperature by 1 degree C

Viscosity

The thickness of a fluid that causes objects to encounter resistance as they move through it

Hydrogen Bond

An intermolecular interaction between a covalently bonded hydrogen to an electronegative atom that creates a partial positive charge on hydrogen, allowing it to attract nearby electronegative atoms

Ions

Charged atoms or molecules

Saturation

An upper limit of a substance’s solubility in water

Acidity

The concentration of H+ ions in a solution

pH

The measure of a solution’s acidity

Solutes

Substances that have dissolved in water

Semipermeable Membranes

Membranes that allow only particular molecules to pass through, while also reducing the free movement of solutes

Osmosis

Movement of water across a semipermeable membrane

Osmotic Potential

The force with which a solution attracts water by osmosis

Osmoregulation

Mechanisms organisms use to maintain a proper solute balance

Hyperosmotic

Tissue solute concentrations are higher than the surrounding water

Hyposmotic

Tissue solute concentrations are lower than surrounding water

Boundary Layer

A region of unstirred air or water that surrounds the surface of an object

Countercurrent Circulation

An adaptation where blood and water flow in opposite directions so that the concentration of O2 in water is always greater than the concentration in the blood

Anaerobic/Anoxic

When an environment becomes completely devoid of oxygen

Acclimation

An environmentally induced change in an individual’s physiology

Thermal Optima

The range of temperatures in which an organism best performs

Q10 Value

A ratio of a physiological process rate at one temperature to the rate of that process when the temperature is 10 degrees C cooler

Thermal Pollution

Changing the temperature of an environment via human discharges

Thermophilic

Heat-loving

Glycerol & Glycoproteins

Chemicals present in some animals that prevent freezing by reducing the strength of the hydrogen bonds or via supercooling

Supercooling

The process of cooling a liquid below its freezing point without it solidifying

Sample Standard Deviation

Provides a standardized way of measuring how widely data are spread from the mean

Standard Error of the Mean

A measurement of variation that takes into account the number of replicates used to measure the standard deviation