We explain what types of breathing exist and what internal and external breathing are like. In addition, the respiration of plants.
What is breath?
The breathing (or external respiration) is a vital process in which the living beings exchange gases with environmentallowing oxygen to enter the organism and expelling the environment carbon dioxide.
This process is essential for the life of aerobic organisms, since it gives them the oxygen necessary to maintain their metabolisms walking. However, it can be carried out through very different mechanisms, depending on the habitat of each organism.
Respiration is the initial and perceptible stage of a more complex physiological process, known as internal respiration or cellular respiration, in which oxygen taken up from the environment is distributed to the cells. cells body to proceed to oxidize certain sugars (glucose) and obtain chemical energy in exchange, in the form of useful molecules of Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP).
Both processes (external respiration and cellular respiration) complement each other, but should not be confused with each other. Below we will see the types of breathing that exist for each of these two circuits for capturing and using vital gases.
Types of internal respiration
In the first place, cellular respiration or internal respiration can take place in two different ways, depending on whether the cells use oxygen or other elements to trigger the metabolic processes from which they obtain energy. Energy necessary to survive, grow and reproduce. Thus, a distinction is made between:
- aerobic respiration, the one that uses, as we said before, the oxygen taken from the environment to oxidize glucose or other similar sugars. This process is very profitable in energy terms (it produces many ATP molecules), but it underproduces water and carbon dioxide. The latter is discarded through external respiration, since it is toxic in the body. The animals, the floors, most of the mushrooms and of the microorganisms (protists) we breathe this way.
- anaerobic respiration, one that does not use oxygen, but instead nitrogen or other gases, acquired as nitrates or sulfites from the environment. This mechanism is not as productive as aerobic respiration, and subproduces different substances such as sulfides, nitrites or methane. It is characteristic of certain bacteria Y yeasts (fungi), which live in regions with little or no plant presence and oxygen.
Types of external respiration
Amphibians combine pulmonary respiration with skin respiration.
For its part, external respiration is classified according to the type of mechanical action used to capture gases from the environment, and therefore varies if the organism is of terrestrial or aquatic habitat. Thus, we can distinguish between:
- Pulmonary breathing, that is to say, that which is carried out through lungs, specialized organs for terrestrial life, just like the ones we have Humans. It consists of capturing dissolved oxygen in the atmosphere, making it enter the body through a vacuum mechanism, similar to that of bellows or suction pumps. When inhaling, the mass of gases present in the air it enters through the nose (or its animal equivalent) and through the trachea reaches the lungs.Inside, it passes through the bronchi to the pulmonary alveoli, sac-like structures that filter oxygen, allowing it to enter the bloodstream. Right there the carbon dioxide is collected to take the opposite path, during exhalation, and is finally expelled from the body through the nose or mouth.
- Gill breathing, as its name indicates, is breathing through gills, organs adapted to underwater life, such as those possessed by fish. The principle is identical to that of pulmonary respiration, except that it occurs in water: animals pass this liquid through these sheet-shaped organs, full of red blood cells ready to capture oxygen and release carbon dioxide.
- Tracheal breathing, one that requires tracheas to take place, that is, ducts or open channels through which air can enter the body. This type of structure is typical of Invertebrate animals, like insects, and are usually found distributed throughout their body, culminating in openings called spiracles. When the spiracles open, air enters the body and oxygen is dissolved in a specialized tracheal fluid, while carbon dioxide is released back out of the body. Later, this oxygen-rich liquid is absorbed by the tissues and the spiracles can reopen to restart the process.
- Cutaneous respiration, which occurs through the layers of the skin of the organism (specifically the epidermis). It is typical of annelids and echinoderms, rather primitive animals, endowed with soft skins that they try to keep continuously moist; but also most of the reptiles Y amphibians, which combine it with pulmonary or gill breathing (in its early life stages).Cutaneous respiration occurs through highly vascularized body tissues, that is, rich in branches of the bloodstream, through which gaseous exchange occurs directly with the environment.
Do plants breathe too?
the plants are autotrophic organisms, capable of producing their own food, through a complex process called photosynthesis, in which they use water, carbon dioxide and sunlight to synthesize organic sugars rich in chemical energy. This process consumes CO2 and releases oxygen into the environment, so it can be considered as the opposite and complementary mechanism to respiration.
However, plants also make use of respiration. Otherwise, during the night, the absence of the sun would kill the plants. Therefore, night plants breathe in the same way that humans do: the same stomata and lenticels that allow CO2 to enter the body during the day, capture oxygen at night and use it to oxidize sugars and obtain Energy.