a parmecium expels water when it is in freshwater. what can you conclude about the concentration gradient in the organism's environment?
2007-03-05 04:21:58 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
Because it loses water, that means that there are more dissolved solutes in the water than in the paramecium. It could be said that the paramecium is hypotonic to the water.
We could conclude that the organism's natural habitat is nearly pure water, to the degree that freshwater contains too many solutes.
2007-03-05 04:28:00 · answer #1 · answered by jsprplc2006 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Water flows from regions of high concentrations to regions of low concentrations. This is the process of osmosis, which is defined as diffusion of water by a concentration gradient. If the paramecium is expelling water, this must mean that the concentration of water inside of the organism is greater than the concentration of water outside the organism.
Vice versa, this must also mean that the concentration of solutes (salts, etc.) must be greater outside of the organism.
2007-03-05 05:40:45 · answer #2 · answered by Amanda 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Concentration of solutes in the surrounding water is more than it is inside the organism.
2007-03-05 04:27:21 · answer #3 · answered by ag_iitkgp 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I conclude that its concentration is high then that of the fresh water.
2007-03-05 04:29:17 · answer #4 · answered by American Wildcat 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋