This is what you should have learned in high school about excretion, from Jim Buckley, Edwards-Knox Central School, Russell, New York.  Try Mr. Buckley's quiz on human excretion for his high school students.

If you don't have your textbook, here is the Excretory System from the On-line Biology book.

to learn more about the human Excretory System, go to HUMAN ANATOMY On-Line.

HOMEOSTASIS

• Bi104: Introductory Biology from Temple University

EXCRETORY SYSTEM

1. osmoregulation
2. excretion

OSMOREGULATION

• Most Marine Invertebrates and some Aquatic Vertebrates
  1. osmotic conformers
• Some Aquatic Invertebrates and most Aquatic Vertebrates
  1. osmotic regulators
     1. hypoosmotic
     2. hyperosmotic

EXCRETION AND OSMOTIC REGULATION IN INVERTEBRATES

1. diffusion: marine protists; isotonic
2. contractile vacuole [Fig. 38.9]: freshwater protists, sponges
3. nephridial organs
   1. flame cells (protonephridia) [Fig. 38.10]: rotifers and planarians
   2. metanephridia [Fig. 38.11]: mollusks and earthworms
4. antennal (green) glands [fig 38.12]: crustaceans
5. Malpighian tubes [Fig. 38.13]: insects
6. coxal glands [Fig. 38.14]: arachnids

EXCRETION OF NITROGENOUS WASTES [Box 38.2]

1. Ammonia: in aquatic organisms
2. Urea: terrestrial amphibians and mammals
3. Uric Acid: insects, reptiles, birds

WATER and SALT BALANCE in VARIOUS VERTEBRATES [Table 38.2]

1. freshwater bony fish [Fig. 38.16a]
2. amphibians [fig 38.17]
3. marine bony fish [Fig. 38.16b]
4. marine cartilaginous fish (chondrichthyes)
5. marine & terrestrial mammals [Table 38.1; Fig. 38.21]
6. marine birds and reptiles: salt gland [Box 38.3]

METABOLIC WASTE DISPOSAL in VERTEBRATES

Ancestry and Embryology of the kidney [Fig. 38.15]

Human Urinary System [Fig. 38.23]

1. kidneys
2. ureter
3. bladder
4. urethra

EXCRETORY ORGANS

• The Parts & Workings Of The Human Kidney

Kidney Structure [Fig. 38.19a]

1. cortex
2. medulla
3. pelvis

Nephrons [Fig. 38.20]

1. glomerular (Bowman's) capsule [38.19b]
2. glomerulus
3. proximal convoluted tubule
4. loop of the nephron [loop of Henle]
5. distal convoluted tubule
6. collecting duct

Urine Formation [fig 38.22]:

1. Pressure Filtration: non-selective filtration
2. Reabsorption
   1. proximal convoluted tubule
   2. distal convoluted tubule
3. Tubular Secretion
4. Water Excretion
   1. Countercurrent multiplication [fig 38.22]
      1. descending loop
      2. ascending loop
   2. collecting tubule

Return to: