The ratio between the surface area and volume of cells and organisms has an enormous impact on their

biology. For example, many aquatic microorganisms have increased surface area to increase their drag in the water. This reduces their rate of sink and allows them to remain near the surface with less energy expenditure. Humans and other large animals cannot rely on diffusion for absorption and ejection of respiratory gases for their whole body; however, animals such as flatworms and leeches can, as they have more surface area per unit volume. For similar reasons, surface to volume ratio places a maximum limit on the size of a cell. An increased surface area to volume ratio also means increased exposure to the environment. The many tentacles of jellyfish and anemones provide increased surface area for the acquisition of food. Greater surface area allows more of the surrounding water to be sifted for nutrients. Individual organs in animals are often shaped by requirements of surface area to volume ratio. The numerous internal branchings of the lung increase the surface area through which oxygen is passed into the blood and carbon dioxide is released from the blood. The intestine has a finely wrinkled internal surface, increasing the area through which nutrients are absorbed by the body. Smaller single celled organisms have a high surface area to volume ratio, which allows them to rely on oxygen and material diffusing into the cell (and wastes diffusing out) in order to survive. The higher the SA:Volume ratio they have, the more effective this process can be. Larger animals require specialized organs (lungs, kidneys, intestines, etc.) that effectively increase the surface area available for exchange processes, and a circulatory system to move material and heat energy between the surface and the core of the organism. A wide and thin cell, such as a nerve cell, or one with membrane protrusions such as microvilli has a greater surface-area-to-volume ratio than a spheroidal one. Likewise a worm has proportionately more surface area than a rounder organism of the same mass does. Increased surface area can also lead to biological problems. King Kong, the fictional giant gorilla, would have insufficient lung surface area to meet his oxygen needs, and could not survive. For small organisms with their high surface:volume ratio, friction and fluid dynamics (wind, water flow) are relatively much more important, and gravity much less important, than for large animals. High surface-area-to-volume ratios also present problems of temperature control in unfavorable environments. More contact with the environment through the surface of a cell or an organ (relative to its volume) increases loss of water and dissolved substances for small organisms. Being large helps endotherms ("warm-blooded" animals) to maintain body temperatures different from their surroundings. This is a basis for Bergmann's rule, whereby in a group of closely related animal species, those at higher latitudes are larger than those the live nearer to the equator. But small organisms have a hard time keeping cooler than their surroundings, which is probably part of why small desert mammals are nocturnal, and some large mammals (hippos, elephants, rhinos, large ungulates) are well adapted to tropical environments. Similar principles apply to plants, which is part of why succulent plants such as cacti, some euphorbs, and others are well-suited to hot dry conditions (there are additional, physiological reasons, including Crassulacean acid metabolism). Tiny leaves on some desert plants (creosote bush, acacias, palo verde, many shrubs) allows those leaves to shed heat by conduction and convection, reducing the need for cooling by evaporation of water (transpiration) (Nob Surface to volume ratio is a

fundamental biological concept. It affects a variety of things, from the maximum size of a cell, to the shape of an organism, to how internal transport systems are arranged.

Abbreviated SA/V, it is formally defined as the amount of surface area per unit volume of an object or collection of objects. It is important because so many biological functions happen on the surface of objects. For example:

Ions diffuse in and out of cells through channels and pores on their surface. Oxygen diffuses in and out of cells across their plasma membranes. Heat diffuses out of our bodies through skin that covers our surface.

As an object grows in size, its surface area will grow too. Look at the example below. The photo shows the cube-shaped cells that are found inside your kidneys. Using a simple cube as a model, we can see how surface area and volume of these cuboidal cells changes if the cells grow larger. In the model, the cell membrane is represented by the surfaces of the cube. The volume of cytoplasm in the cuboidal cell is represented by the space inside the cube.

Left: false color micrograph of the tubules that filter waste in the kidney. One tubule is highlighted to show epithelial cells (blue), cell nuclei (green) and the tubule lumen (dark center). The epithelial cells that make up the tubule are approximately cubeshaped, so are called cuboidal epithelium cell. Right: schematic diagram showing 2 cubes. One is a 1 mm3 cube, the other, a 2 mm3 cube. The cube on the left has 6 sides, each 1 mm x 1 mm, giving it a total surface area of (1 mm x 1 mm x 6 sides =) 6 mm2. The cube on the right is larger, 2 mm x 2 mm. It has a total surface area of (2 mm x 2 mm x 6 sides =) 24 mm 2. Now let's look at how volumes changes for the same two cubes. The cube on the left has a total volume of (1 mm x 1 mm x 1 mm) = 1 mm3. The larger cube on the right has a volume of (2 mm x 2 mm x 2 mm) = 8 mm3. So volume increases too as the size of an organism increases. Both surface area and volume increase as an object gets larger, but they do not increase by the same amount. So the SA/V ratio will change as an object gets bigger. For the first cube, the SA/V ratio (ignoring the units for now) is 6/1 = 6. For the second cube, the SA/V ratio is 24/8 = 3. Each time the size of the cube increases, the SA/V ratio will get smaller. This relationship is true for most any space-filling shape; as it gets larger, its SA/V ratio gets smaller.

Why is it significant that surface to volume ratio decreases as a cell gets larger?

Remember that a lot of biologically important things happen on surfaces. Going back to our cuboidal cells, as acell gets larger, the space inside the cell increases faster than the surface around it. In theory, a cell could grow so large that there would not be enough surface area for a sufficient amount of ions and oxygen to diffuse across. In other words, the SA/V ratio can become too small for a cell to survive. This is one of the reasons why cells are small; if they were larger, not enough oxygen would be able to diffuse into them. SA/V ratio affects more than just cells. It is important to large organisms as well. Humans and other large animals cannot rely on diffusion to move oxygen and carbon dioxide directly in and out of their body. They must have a transport system located close to individual cells to transport the gases in and out. In comparison, animals such as flatworms are thin and have a large enough surface area that they can absorb oxygen directly from their environment. An increased surface area to volume ratio also means increased exposure to the environment. Jellyfish and anemones have many tentacles that increase surface area for getting food. More surface area lets them sift through more of the surrounding water for food. The shape of individual organs in animals is often related to SA/V ratio. Our lungs have numerous branches that lead to small thin grape-like sacs called alveoli. These increase the surface area for gas exchange in ourlungs; without the millions of sacs, our lungs would not have enough surface area to absorb all the oxygen we need. Most larger animals have specialized organs (lungs, kidneys, intestines, etc.), organized so that they increase the surface area available for exchange processes. They also have a circulatory system to move materials and heat energy between the surface and the core of the organism.[1]

References: [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface-area-to-volume_ratio

This text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
el, 2009).

Surface to volume ratio is a fundamental biological concept. It affects a variety of things, from the maximum size of a cell, to the shape of an organism, to how internal transport systems are arranged.

Abbreviated SA/V, it is formally defined as the amount of surface area per unit volume of an object or collection of objects. It is important because so many biological functions happen on the surface of objects. For example:

Ions diffuse in and out of cells through channels and pores on their surface. Oxygen diffuses in and out of cells across their plasma membranes. Heat diffuses out of our bodies through skin that covers our surface.

As an object grows in size, its surface area will grow too. Look at the example below. The photo shows the cube-shaped cells that are found inside your kidneys. Using a simple cube as a model, we can see how surface area and volume of these cuboidal cells changes if the cells grow larger. In the model, the cell membrane is represented by the surfaces of the cube. The volume of cytoplasm in the cuboidal cell is represented by the space inside the cube.

Left: false color micrograph of the tubules that filter waste in the kidney. One tubule is highlighted to show epithelial cells (blue), cell nuclei (green) and the tubule lumen (dark center). The epithelial cells that make up the tubule are approximately cubeshaped, so are called cuboidal epithelium cell. Right: schematic diagram showing 2 cubes. One is a 1 mm3 cube, the other, a 2 mm3 cube. The cube on the left has 6 sides, each 1 mm x 1 mm, giving it a total surface area of (1 mm x 1 mm x 6 sides =) 6 mm2. The cube on the right is larger, 2 mm x 2 mm. It has a total surface area of (2 mm x 2 mm x 6 sides =) 24 mm 2. Now let's look at how volumes changes for the same two cubes. The cube on the left has a total volume of (1 mm x 1 mm x 1 mm) = 1 mm3. The larger cube on the right has a volume of (2 mm x 2 mm x 2 mm) = 8 mm3. So volume increases too as the size of an organism increases. Both surface area and volume increase as an object gets larger, but they do not increase by the same amount. So the SA/V ratio will change as an object gets bigger. For the first cube, the SA/V ratio (ignoring the units for now) is 6/1 = 6. For the second cube, the SA/V ratio is 24/8 = 3. Each time the size of the cube increases, the SA/V ratio will get smaller. This relationship is true for most any space-filling shape; as it gets larger, its SA/V ratio gets smaller.

Why is it significant that surface to volume ratio decreases as a cell gets larger?

Remember that a lot of biologically important things happen on surfaces. Going back to our cuboidal cells, as acell gets larger, the space inside the cell increases faster than the surface around it. In theory, a cell could grow so large that there would not be enough surface area for a sufficient amount of ions and oxygen to diffuse across. In other words, the SA/V ratio can become too small for a cell to survive. This is one of the reasons why cells are small; if they were larger, not enough oxygen would be able to diffuse into them. SA/V ratio affects more than just cells. It is important to large organisms as well. Humans and other large animals cannot rely on diffusion to move oxygen and carbon dioxide directly in and out of their body. They must have a transport system located close to individual cells to transport the gases in and out. In comparison, animals such as flatworms are thin and have a large enough surface area that they can absorb oxygen directly from their environment. An increased surface area to volume ratio also means increased exposure to the environment. Jellyfish and anemones have many tentacles that increase surface area for getting food. More surface area lets them sift through more of the surrounding water for food. The shape of individual organs in animals is often related to SA/V ratio. Our lungs have numerous branches that lead to small thin grape-like sacs called alveoli. These increase the surface area for gas exchange in ourlungs; without the millions of sacs, our lungs would not have enough surface area to absorb all the oxygen we need. Most larger animals have specialized organs (lungs, kidneys, intestines, etc.), organized so that they increase the surface area available for exchange processes. They also have a circulatory system to move materials and heat energy between the surface and the core of the organism.[1]

References: [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface-area-to-volume_ratio

This text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.