Write your answers to the following questions in the space b…
Write your answers to the following questions in the space below. Please label your answers as (a), (b) and (c). The planaria, a free-living platyhelminth, does gas exchange across their surface of the body and does not have any specialized gas exchange structures. Yet it is not constrained to having cell layers that are only one cell layer thick like the sponges and cnidarians. a) In order to overcome the constraint that diffusion places on a body plan without a specialized gas exchange structure, would the ratio of the body surface area to the body volume need to be high or low? b) Explain how the flatworm’s way of doing gas exchange constrains their body plan so that they can provide effective gas exchange to keep the animal alive.
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