Question

Gas Transport: A trout swims from its normal cold water habitat into a warm water cooling pond. Clearly this is a dangerous situation. Heat shock isn’t an issue. It isn’t that warm. But it is still quite a bit warmer than the cold, fast, highly mixed stream that the trout was in before. So, what about the pond water makes it dangerous? In terms of the trout’s blood will the trout be able to extract what it needs from the pond water? Explain. Will the warmer environment affect the exchange of gasses within the trout, say at muscle and other tissues? Explain.

Answer 1

There are considerable effect of changes of temperature on the aquatic life. This happens because temperaure favors the physiology of organism by influencing the enzymatic activities, hormonal actions, nervous control, digestion, respiration, osmoregulation, etc.

According to the question, trout is making transition from normal cold water into warm water pond. So, when the temperature of the water raise, it would have the following affects:

1. It icreases the metabolism, respiration and oxygen demand of the aquatic organisms. With every 10 degree celcius rise in temperature, the respiration rate increases twice. So, it will increase the demand of oxygen in oxygen-deficient conditions which will make organism's survival difficult. It's been also speculated that oxygen concentration decreases with the increase in the temperature.

2. With the increase in the temperature, solubility of the substances also increases. So, it imposes threat to the trout if tt is lving in the pond where there are dissolved toxins in the surrounding.

3. Higher temperature also favors the growth of fungus and sludge deposits inside the trout body.

4. Elevated temperatures can become life threatening to the trout, which might imbalance the aquatic ecosystem.

Since the temperature is slight elevated, then trour won't be able to extract it's needs from the pond water. Fishes extract oxygen for the respiration through dissolved oxygen. As mentioned above, with increase in temperature, dissolved oxygen levels decreases. So, lesser oxygen will be intaken by the fish. Intaken water will makes its passage to the gills and as oxygen-deficient water passes over the thin-membranes of the gills, very less amount of oxygen would move to the blood. Thus, it will affect the respiration of the trout.

Since there will be deficiency of oxygen reaching the blood through the gills, this will have impact on the energy levels in the trouts as improper glycolysis would occur in case of oxygen deficient conditions that will generate fewer ATP.