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Photosynthesis ( / ˌfoʊtəˈsɪnθəsɪs / FOH-tə-SINTH-ə-sis) [ 1] is a system of biological processes by which photosynthetic organisms, such as most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, convert light energy, typically from sunlight, into the chemical energy necessary to fuel their metabolism.
A C3 plant uses the Calvin cycle for the initial steps that incorporate CO 2 into organic material. A C4 plant prefaces the Calvin cycle with reactions that incorporate CO 2 into four-carbon compounds. A CAM plant uses crassulacean acid metabolism, an adaptation for photosynthesis in arid conditions. C4 and CAM plants have special adaptations ...
Evolutionary history of plants. A late Silurian sporangium, artificially colored. Green: A spore tetrad. Blue: A spore bearing a trilete mark – the Y -shaped scar. The spores are about 30–35 μm across. The evolution of plants has resulted in a wide range of complexity, from the earliest algal mats of unicellular archaeplastids evolved ...
Photoautotrophism. Photoautotrophs are organisms that can utilize light energy from sunlight and elements (such as carbon) from inorganic compounds to produce organic materials needed to sustain their own metabolism (i.e. autotrophy ). Such biological activities are known as photosynthesis, and examples of such organisms include plants, algae ...
A leaf ( pl.: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, [ 1] usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", [ 2][ 3] while the leaves, stem, flower, and fruit collectively form the shoot system. [ 4]
The fossil history of flowering plants records the development of flowers and other distinctive structures of the angiosperms, now the dominant group of plants on land.The history is controversial as flowering plants appear in great diversity in the Cretaceous, with scanty and debatable records before that, creating a puzzle for evolutionary biologists that Charles Darwin named an "abominable ...
e. A biogeochemical cycle, or more generally a cycle of matter, [ 1] is the movement and transformation of chemical elements and compounds between living organisms, the atmosphere, and the Earth's crust. Major biogeochemical cycles include the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle. In each cycle, the chemical element or molecule ...
In seed plants (gymnosperms and flowering plants), the sporophyte forms most of the visible plant, and the gametophyte is very small. Flowering plants reproduce sexually using flowers, which contain male and female parts: these may be within the same (hermaphrodite) flower, on different flowers on the same plant, or on different plants.