Question

Utah's Great Salt Lake has an average salinity seven times higher than that of the oceans. Very few multicellular organisms live in this harsh environment. An example is the brine shrimp, which must devote a large portion of its metabolic energy to osmoregulation. These brine shrimp must _____.

Answer 1

Answer:

actively pump water back into their cells to counter its loss due to osmosis

Explanation:

• When an organism actively regulates the osmotic pressure of the bodily fluids present in the body in order to maintain homeostasis in the body then this is termed as osmoregulation.
• Since, the Great salt lake in Utah has a lot of salt in it, the water content in the surroundings of the brine shrimp is much less and hence, the water will move out of the brine shrimp's body as osmosis causes the movement of the water from higher concentration of water to lower concentration of water.
• However, movement of water out from shrimp's body would cause it to desiccate and hence, it must have an actively pumping system that pumps the water back into their cells in order to compensate for the water lost due to osmosis.