Question

What advantage does uric acid offer as a nitrogenous waste in arid environments?

Short answer

Uric acid provides the advantage of water conservation in animals like terrestrial invertebrates and birds.

Step-by-step solution

Arid environment

A region, like a desert, where water is scanty and has no regular seasonal pattern with harsh environmental conditions like hot and dry preventing plant growth is called an arid environment.

The three distinct kinds of arid zones are categorized as arid, semi-arid, and hyper-arid zones. Examples of arid environment defining characteristics are lack of moisture, hot summer, dry soil, cold night, dry air, high-temperature range, low precipitation, and greater evaporation rates.

Nitrogenous waste

When protein digestion forms amino acids utilized by the living cell, this digestion results in the formation of a metabolic waste product containing nitrogen like urea called nitrogenous waste.

Some examples of common nitrogenous waste include uric acid (generated in the liver), urea (ammonia conversion forms urea), and ammonia (protein metabolism generates this direct waste). An important use of nitrogenous waste is energy conservation through ammoniac excretion that is commonly used in fertilizers.

Uric acid

The nitrogenous metabolism waste product, which is excreted as a semi-solid material by the living body, such as animals, is called uric acid.

Animals, such as reptiles and birds that are found in the arid region, excrete concentrated urine containing nitrogenous waste like uric acid (semi-solid and insoluble compound) to reduce water loss.