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What is Excretion?

Sara Schmidt
Sara Schmidt
Sara Schmidt
Sara Schmidt

Vertebrates can accumulate large amounts of waste in their tissues, organs, and blood. To keep harmful substances from staying in the body, waste elimination is achieved through a process known as excretion. During this process, waste matter is discharged through urine, sweat, and other means.

Excretion takes place with the help of four body systems. In the urinary system, the kidneys work to rid the body of water and toxins. They also eliminate electrolytes and nitrogen compounds. Ridding the body of carbon dioxide waste through respiration, the lungs form the respiratory lever of the excretory system.

The human urinary system is part of the larger excretory system.
The human urinary system is part of the larger excretory system.

Like the kidneys, the skin helps the body excrete nitrogen, water, and electrolyte wastes from the integumentary system. The sweat excreted from the skin contains wastes such as lactic acid and urea. Another purpose of the skin's excretion of sweat is to maintain body temperature and homeostasis. The digestive system also plays an important role in the excretory process. The intestine is responsible for eliminating bile pigmentation, heavy metal salts, and other digestive wastes.

Dialysis can be used as an artificial means of excretion.
Dialysis can be used as an artificial means of excretion.

Wastes exist in several forms. Dead cells and sweat are the most common wastes excreted by the skin. Both liquid and solid wastes exit the body through digestion in the form of urine and feces. The carbon dioxide and other gases excreted by the lungs are in gas form. Lungs also excrete mucus through mucociliary excretion.

The process of excretion is vital to the health and wellbeing of human beings and other creatures. The wastes found in the body are poisonous, and without proper detection can easily lead to death. The excretory system both finds these wastes as well as disposes of them, allowing the body to remain healthful and functional.

Carbon dioxide is a waste by-product of metabolism and removed from the body via the lungs when a person exhales.
Carbon dioxide is a waste by-product of metabolism and removed from the body via the lungs when a person exhales.

In plants, waste does not accumulate as heavily as it does in mammals and other vertebrates. The excretion method used by plants usually consists of the simple diffusion of waste gases into the organism's surroundings. Like humans, vertebrates excrete waste through the skin, lungs, and urethra with the help of the kidneys and lungs.

Removal processes of waste from the body can malfunction or cease if excretory organs fail. Medication and organ replacement can sometimes remedy such malfunctions. Lengthy manual treatments, such as dialysis, can sometimes fill in when an organ, such as the kidney, permanently fails. If not properly replaced or treated, excretory failure can lead to severe illness and death.

The digestive system plays a role in excretion.
The digestive system plays a role in excretion.

Many people refer to defecation as excretion. The use of the term in this way, however, is incorrect. Though feces itself contains waste, and its release is part of the excretion process, defecation itself is not considered waste removal. It instead refers primarily to the removal of indigestible food.

Sara Schmidt
Sara Schmidt

A graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, Sara has a Master’s Degree in English, which she puts to use writing for WiseGEEK and several magazines, websites, and nonprofit organizations. She has published her own novella, and has other literary projects currently in progress. Sara’s varied interests have also led her to teach children in Spain, tutor college students, run CPR and first aid classes, and organize student retreats.

Learn more...
Sara Schmidt
Sara Schmidt

A graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, Sara has a Master’s Degree in English, which she puts to use writing for WiseGEEK and several magazines, websites, and nonprofit organizations. She has published her own novella, and has other literary projects currently in progress. Sara’s varied interests have also led her to teach children in Spain, tutor college students, run CPR and first aid classes, and organize student retreats.

Learn more...

Discussion Comments

Authordor
@Ravellu: Kidney stones are comprised of calcium oxalate and are caused as a result of an accumulation of normally dissolved minerals on the inner lining of the kidneys. These deposits can grow up to the size of a golf ball while maintaining a sharp, crystalline structure. The leading cause of kidney stones is a lack of water which increases the pH of urine and promoting an acidic environment and the growth of stones.
Ravellu
What are kidney stones, then?
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    • The human urinary system is part of the larger excretory system.
      By: snapgalleria
      The human urinary system is part of the larger excretory system.
    • Dialysis can be used as an artificial means of excretion.
      By: Tyler Olson
      Dialysis can be used as an artificial means of excretion.
    • Carbon dioxide is a waste by-product of metabolism and removed from the body via the lungs when a person exhales.
      By: Alexandr Mitiuc
      Carbon dioxide is a waste by-product of metabolism and removed from the body via the lungs when a person exhales.
    • The digestive system plays a role in excretion.
      By: blueringmedia
      The digestive system plays a role in excretion.
    • The kidneys rid the body of water and toxins as part of the urinary system.
      By: nerthuz
      The kidneys rid the body of water and toxins as part of the urinary system.
    • Defecation itself is not considered waste removal.
      By: eyeQ
      Defecation itself is not considered waste removal.
    • Sweat plays a key role in body temperature regulation.
      By: jedi-master
      Sweat plays a key role in body temperature regulation.
    • Humans excrete waste through the urethra.
      By: isyste
      Humans excrete waste through the urethra.
    • The lungs rid the body of carbon dioxide waste through the respiration process.
      By: decade3d
      The lungs rid the body of carbon dioxide waste through the respiration process.