Question

How do contractile vacuoles help amoebas maintain homeostasis?

Answer 1

Single celled organisms such as amoebas, especially those that live in fresh water, continually gain water from their surrounding environment by osmosis. This water is pumped into a contractile vacuole which fills with fluid and periodically fuses with the cell membrane, releasing its contents to the exterior. Thus the amount of water actively transported out of the cell is equal to the amount of water entering the cell due to osmosis and there are no variations in the tonicity of the cell. This is homeostasis at a simple level. Without the contractile vacuole, the amoeba would continue to absorb water until its cytoplasmic contents were diluted to such an extent that metabolism no longer occurred and it would die.