Question

A difference between plant and animal osmoregulation is that ___.

Animals use aquaporins to facilitate osmosis, but plants do not.

Animal cells need to be hypoosmotic to their surroundings, whereas plant cells need to be hyperosmotic to their surroundings.

Animals need high cytosolic Ca++, whereas plants must maintain low cytosolic Ca++.

Plants require nitrogen but animals do not.

Animals create nitrogenous waste but plants do not.

Land animals are osmotic regulators but plants are osmotic conformers.

Answer 1

Land animals are osmotic regulators but plants are osmotic conformers is the difference between osmoregulation in plants and animals. Osmoregulators are those which maintain their internal environment when there is a change in the external environment. Osmoconformers are those which adapt the tonicity with environment and since the plants are non- motile they are considered as osmoconformers

Other options are incorrect because,

both animals and plants use aquaporins for osmosis

both animals and plant maintain a low Ca++ concentration in the cytosol

both animals and plants require nitrogen and they also excrete nitrogenous waste

Plant cells needs to be hypotonic to the surrounding to maintain their turbid cell structure whereas animal cell needs to be isotonic to the environment because in hypotonic the cells will burst, in hypertonic the cells will shrink as they do not have cell wall to regulate it.