Zoology 120 – Animal Physiology

Respiration Rate of Fingerlings and Mus musculus

2nd Semester AY 2016-2017
Lopez, J., Macabangun, R.A., Tumale, A., Villanueva, R.

ABSTRACT

Respiration is the entire sequence of events in exchange of O2 and CO2 between the external environment and
tissue cells. This experiments aims to observe the respiration rate of fingerlings and Mus musculus, and the
factors that could possibly affect their respiration. Results showed that body size, temperature, tolerance,
developmental stage, and physiological state such as feeding or swimming play significant role in the level of
respiration of fingerlings. While the respiration of Mus musculus were affected by factors such as body size,
temperature, oxygen tension, and activity. Overall results showed that the respiration rate of aquatic and
terrestrial animals are affected by the same or similar factors.

INTRODUCTION respiration. Organisms have varying environmental

Respiration or specifically the external
respiration is the entire sequence of events in exchange
of O2 and CO2 between the external environment and
tissue cells. Basically, air moves into and out of the lungs
through the act of breathing or ventilation so that air can
be exchanged between the atmosphere and the alveoli of
the lungs. After the oxygen has reached the air sacs,
exchange of air between the alveoli and blood within the
pulmonary capillaries happen via diffusion. Subsequently,
the blood will then transport oxygen and carbon dioxide
between the lungs and the tissues. Lastly, oxygen and
carbon dioxide are exchanged between the tissue cells
and the blood by the process of diffusion across the
systemic capillaries. Respiration is governed by two
systems, which is respiratory system and circulatory
system. Respiratory system controls the first two steps
and circulatory system controls the two latter steps. The
parts of the brain that are involved in respiration are the
cerebellum and the pons, which are also involved in the
control of sleep cycle and reflexes (Sherwood, 2012).
The nature of the rate of gas exchange
organisms is variable and is the product of an extremely
complex environmental situation. It is primarily influenced
by the blood pH, activity level, the presence of drugs and
alcohol, blood oxygen and carbon dioxide (St. John, 2017).
Also, rate of gas exchange is also affected by endogenous
factors such as body size, activity level, and stage of
development, which profoundly influence the rate of
conditions, and so factors such as aerial or aquatic
conditions, may affect respiration qualitatively (Newell,
1973).
Terrestrial animals have an internal respiratory
organ, which is called the lungs. The lungs provide a thin,
moist surface for gas exchange. Besides this organ, the
rest of the respiratory system varies in terrestrial
vertebrates according to their habitat and evolution.
Generally, the respiratory system involves the respiratory
airways leading into the lungs, the lungs, the respiratory
muscles of the thorax and abdomen involved in producing
movement of air through the airways into and out of the
lungs (Sherwood, 2012). The availability of oxygen in land
is greater and so respiration is easier than the aquatic
environment, for oxygen is less soluble in water.
Aquatic animals live in environments in which
oxygen is found in relatively low concentrations as
compared to air. There is only about 15 mg of oxygen per
liter of water. Water has high viscosity and its density
makes moving of the fluid back and forth into the
respiratory organs difficult. Distance over which diffusion
of oxygen can also take place and the surface area or
volume ration of the organism to be served is also a
problem. Consequently, most aquatic animals have special
adaptation that helps acquire oxygen. Aquatic animals
have one-way or flow-through respiratory systems that
pump water over their respiratory organs called gills.
Aquatic animals also have a counter-current exchange
system that allows maximal gas exchange. Secondly, the

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 Zoology 120 – Animal Physiology
Respiration Rate of Fingerlings and Mus musculus
2nd Semester AY 2016-2017
Lopez, J., Macabangun, R.A., Tumale, A., Villanueva, R.

blood flows against the current of the water to maintain RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
substantial gradient across the entire gill surface. Lastly,
the nervous system of aquatic animals are more sensitive Table 1. Respiration of Fingerlings
to low oxygen levels in their blood, in contrast to
terrestrial animals that are usually more sensitive to Bottle Weight NaOH CO2 Respiration
carbon dioxide levels (Davidson, n.d.). (g) (ml) present rate
(μmole) (μmole/min)
In this experiment terrestrial and aquatic E1 0.5610g 1.8 1.3 4.53
organisms are compared and observed. Terrestrial E2 1.0963g 1.4 1.4 2.53
organisms are represented by a rodent or Mus musculus E3 0.9195g 1.1 1.1 2.39
and aquatic organisms are represented by fingerlings or E4 1.3666g 0.7 0.7 1.02
young fish. This experiment primarily aims to observe the E5 0.5752g 1.0 1.0 3.47
respiration rate of each organism and the factors that
E6 0.5188g 1.0 1.0 3.86
could possibly affect respiration.
C NA 1.0 1.0 NA
MATERIALS AND METHODS Carbon dioxide is soluble in water, mainly due to
its polarity. Carbon dioxide’s oxygen forms intermolecular
A. Respiration rate of Fingerlings hydrogen bonding with the hydrogen molecules of water
molecule. It dissolves especially well at low temperature
Six beakers were labeled as E1 to E6 with two and high pressure. The presence of carbon dioxide in
fingerlings each and one beaker was labeled as C for the water makes water acidic, forming H2CO3 or carbonic
control without any fingerling. These were all filled with acid.
water and after half an hour, the fingerlings were
removed and measured their weight. The water in all the CO2 + H2O ↔ H2CO3 ↔ H+ + HCO3-
beakers were titrated using sodium hydroxide until a pink
coloration appeared. The volume of the sodium hydroxide The determination of its amount in water was
used was recorded. done through the use of Phenolphthalein and NaOH.
Phenolphthalein acts as an indicator. Basically it is an
B. Measuring the Oxygen Uptake acid-base indicator that is colorless in an acidic solution
and pink in basic solution. NaOH, on the other hand, reacts
The Scholander Respirometer was prepared for with all the excess H+ ions. Once the sodium hydroxide has
this part of the experiment. The weight of the mouse was reacted to all the excess H+ ions that came from the
recorded before this part was conducted. The mouse was carbonic acid the solution will become neutral, making the
placed inside the air tight glass jar set up securing that next drop of sodium hydroxide a turning point to make the
the NaOH pellets were not touching the mouse. A drop of solution basic. Thus, the indicator will then react and will
water was placed at the end of the pipette. The oxygen make the solution pink. The number of drops of the NaOH
uptake was determined every ten minutes of interval in an indirectly determines the amount of the carbon dioxide
hour by measuring the movement of water. present in the solution. The chemical reaction is as
follows:

C20H14O4 + 2NaOH → (C20H12O4)2- + 2Na+ + 2H2O

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 Zoology 120 – Animal Physiology
Respiration Rate of Fingerlings and Mus musculus
2nd Semester AY 2016-2017
Lopez, J., Macabangun, R.A., Tumale, A., Villanueva, R.
The pink coloration after titration determines
the presence of the carbon dioxide as the byproduct of
the said reaction. The table above shows the amount of
carbon dioxide present in every bottle. The bottle labeled
as E4 has the heaviest weight of fingerlings while the E6
bottle has the lightest weight of fingerlings. Generally, the
body weight of an animal, the higher its metabolic rate is.
Metabolic rate can be measured by the consumption of
oxygen, heat production and carbon dioxide production.
Generally, the small animals require a higher supply of
nutrients this is because the higher metabolic rate of
small animals needs a greater delivery of oxygen to
tissues around the body. With this information, the E6
bottle is expected to have a higher amount of respiration
rate since it has the lowest measured weight. But the E1
bottle showed the highest amount of respiration rate.
There might be due to an error with the setup of the
experiment resulting to this data. It can also be due to the
removal of the test subjects at different time.
Researchers have found out that body size,
temperature, tolerance, developmental stage, and
physiological state such as feeding or swimming play
significant role in the level of respiration in fingerlings.
Other factors stated are food availability, temperature,
salinity, and oxygen saturation (Harris, 2000). The
organisms which are motionless in the water exhibit a
lower respiration rate compared to that of the active
ones. The fingerlings in each of the bottles are moving
actively since the very start which supports the data
gathered for this experiment.
In measuring the oxygen uptake of the white
mouse, respiration was not measured correctly using the
Scholander’s respirometer because the drop of water did
not adhere completely to the pipette in which led to the
observed oxygen consumption of the mouse which is .06
ml CO2/g-h. Theoretically, the oxygen consumption should
be 1.65 CO2/kg-h (Prosser, 1973), which could be solved
using eq. 1 (Pitkin, 2006).
𝐵𝑃 273
𝑉𝑆𝑇𝑃 = 𝑉𝑜𝑏𝑠 𝑥 760 𝑥 𝑇+273 [Equation 1]
Where:
VSTP = vol. in mL at STP
Vobs = observed vol. in mL
BP = barometric pressure in mmhg
T = temperature in °C
Closed bottle methods increases respiration
after transfer, depletes oxygen, accumulates excretions,
cannot measure effects of differing oxygen tensions, but
the calculation is simple (Lampert, 2010), as shown above.
Endothermic animals use both metabolic and
behavioral means to maintain a constant body
temperature and under most circumstances there is a
nominal species specific preferred body temperature
(Lampert, 2010). In mice this is between 30 and 31.5 °C. At
lower temperature, the mouse will shiver, while at higher
temperature, the mouse will try to cool itself by spreading
saliva on its fur (Lampert, 2010). Both situations need
muscle activity. Increased muscle activity results in an
increased metabolic need, thus there is an energetic cost
to the mouse to stay warm or cool when the ambient
temperature changes from the preferred temperature
and would thus consume more oxygen and produce more
carbon dioxide especially at higher temperatures
(Lampert, 2010).
As what can be implied from the above
statements, respiration was affected by factors such as
body size, temperature, oxygen tension, and activity. It
could also be affected by light, food, container size, and
other minute factors (Lampert, 2010). Body size generally
decreases respiration as it increases (Zeuthen, 1970) and
that a certain thermal range dictates the level of
metabolism (Epp & Lewis, 1980). For conformers, oxygen
consumption is based on the ambient concentration
(Prosser, 1973), but generally animals tend to shift to
anaerobic respiration when deprived of oxygen (Mangum
& Van Winkle, 1973). Activity increases respiration, due to
higher metabolism (Berg, et. al, 1962). Container size is
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 Zoology 120 – Animal Physiology
Respiration Rate of Fingerlings and Mus musculus
2nd Semester AY 2016-2017
Lopez, J., Macabangun, R.A., Tumale, A., Villanueva, R.

also important, because as crowding increases, it also
increases the respiration rate (Van Aardt, 1988).
Other sources of error could have been system
leaks, insufficient NaOH, dirty or blocked pipette, and
failure to wet the pipette interior (Pitkin, 2006).
Overall results showed that the respiration rate
of aquatic (fingerlings) and terrestrial animals (Mus
musculus) are affected by the same or similar factors.
References
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factors-affect-respiration-rate/
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Berg K., Jonasson P.M. & Ockelmann K.W. (1962). The

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