Blood
About 98.5% of the oxygen in a sample of arterial blood in a healthy human breathing air at sea-level pressure is chemically combined with the hemoglobin. About 1.5% is physically dissolved in the other blood liquids and not connected to hemoglobin. The hemoglobin molecule is the primary transporter of oxygen in mammals and many other species (for exceptions, see below). Hemoglobin has an oxygen binding capacity between 1.36 and 1.40 ml O per gram hemoglobin, which increases the total blood oxygen capacity seventyfold, compared to if oxygen solely were carried by its solubility of 0.03 ml O per liter blood per mm Hg partial pressure of oxygen (about 100 mm Hg in arteries).
Lake ecosystem
Oxygen is essential for organismal respiration. The amount of oxygen present in standing waters depends upon: 1) the area of transparent water exposed to the air, 2) the circulation of water within the system and 3) the amount of oxygen generated and used by organisms present. In shallow, plant-rich pools there may be great fluctuations of oxygen, with extremely high concentrations occurring during the day due to photosynthesis and very low values at night when respiration is the dominant process of primary producers. Thermal stratification in larger systems can also affect the amount of oxygen present in different zones. The epilimnion is oxygen rich because it circulates quickly, gaining oxygen via contact with the air. The hypolimnion, however, circulates very slowly and has no atmospheric contact. Additionally, fewer green plants exist in the hypolimnion, so there is less oxygen released from photosynthesis. In spring and fall when the epilimnion and hypolimnion mix, oxygen becomes more evenly distributed in the system. Low oxygen levels are characteristic of the profundal zone due to the accumulation of decaying vegetation and animal matter that “rains” down from the pelagic and benthic zones and the inability to support primary producers.