Question

Which of the following is not a characteristic of a good respiratory surface?
A. Thin and moist
B. Large surface area
C. Close to oxygen and gas transport
D. Thick and dry surface

Answer 1

Respiration is the process of the movement of oxygen from the external environment into the respiratory organ called lung via a semipermeable membrane and transport the carbon dioxide outside the lung into the external environment.

Complete answer:
Throughout the animal kingdom different organisms possess different organs, tissue or cells which are used for respiration process, their structure may be different but some characteristic features are similar. Like some animal respire through skin called cutaneous respiration example some amphibian-like frog, some organism like fishes respire through gill, some animal has the primitive type of lung called book lung, some animal shows tracheal respiration.

From the primitive form of life to the advanced form of life then the complexity of the organ can be increased. For the respiration, the surface of the organs must be moist and thin in the case of a frog which shows cutaneous respiration, not only in the frog or some amphibians but also some invertebrates show cutaneous respiration they usually found in a moist environment.

Large surface area increases the uptake of oxygen and release of carbon dioxide into the environment easily like in humans, lungs possess numerous small pouch-like structures called alveoli, which are the infolding structure where gases exchange take place. Fish like animals respire through gills which are always contacted with water and continuously move in water, which is necessary to respire in the water. But if an organism possesses a dry or thick surface then it is not possible or hard to respire.

Hence, the correct option is D.

Note: The biochemical definition of respiration is that the breakdown of food into the smaller energy-rich molecule by the oxidation process, in this process energy, is evolved and carbon dioxide along with water molecules as waste products.