Comparative Anatomy

The Digestive System

Unicellular Organisms
● Most unicellular organisms do not require digestion because most of their
nutrients are already small enough to be absorbed into the cell
● However, some, like the paramecium, are able to bring in solid particles as food
vacuoles.
○ These use lysosomes, packed with hydrolytic enzymes, to breakdown the
contents of the food vacuoles.
Plants
● Plants and other autotrophic organisms do not always require digestion.
● As always, there are exceptions
○ Plants that cannot get nitrogen from the soil (ie. Venus flytrap or pitcher
plant), get nitrogen by digesting insects in specialized leaf structures that
secrete digestive enzymes.
Multicellular Organisms
● Multicellular organisms have a variety of specialized digestive organs.
○ Annelids (ie. earthworm) have a series of organs for digesting - mouth,
pharynx, esophagus, crop, gizzard, intestine
○ Orthopterans (grasshoppers) use the same type of digestive parts as the
earthworm, however, they also have an organ called the gastric caeca.
○ Amphibians (frog) also have much the same type of digestive organs,
however, they do not have a crop or gizzard. Instead, they have a stomach.
● Each of these organisms also have specialized mouth parts so that they can eat
their natural foods.
Evolution of the Digestive System
Two-Way Digestion
● Simple animals have a single digestive
pouch with a single opening.
● Food enters through the opening, waste
leaves through the same opening.
● These organisms must finish digesting
before eating again.
● The digestive system evolution
continues as a straight tube with an
opening at either end.
○ examples of this are found in the species
Agnatha
● As the digestive tube lengthened it
began to coil
One Way Digestion
● More complex animals have one-way digestion.
● Food enters one opening and waste leaves
from another.
● Animals with one-way systems can eat any
time, which is an advantage.
 •Pharynx
•Mouth
•Esophagus
•Crop
•Gizzard
•Intestine
•Anus

Earthworm Digestive System

 •Esophagus
•Stomach
•Liver
•Gallbladder
•Intestine
•Cloaca
•Anus

Frog Digestive System

 •Mouth
•Pharynx
•Esophagus
•Liver
•Gallbladder
•Stomach
•Small intestine
•Large intestine
Human Digestive
System
•Rectum
•Anus
 Organism 1 Organism 2

Activity time!
Organism 3 Organism 4
Working individually...

❏ Examine pg. 208 - 211 in the Biology 11 text

❏ Fold a sheet of white paper into 4 quadrants
❏ Choose 4 of the 5 organisms that are discussed in the textbook (earthworm, hydra,
human, chicken, amoeba)
❏ Summarize the digestive system of 1 organism in each square.
❏ Highlight the main similarities and differences. Consider both form (what it looks like),
and function (what it does). Use colour & be creative! ☺

Pass into your folders at the end of class.