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A heterotroph (/ ˈ h ɛ t ər ə ˌ t r oʊ f,-ˌ t r ɒ f /; [1] [2] from Ancient Greek ἕτερος (héteros) 'other' and τροφή (trophḗ) 'nutrition') is an organism that cannot produce its own food, instead taking nutrition from other sources of organic carbon, mainly plant or animal matter. In the food chain, heterotrophs are ...
Some shade-loving plants (sciophytes) produce such low levels of oxygen during photosynthesis that they use all of it themselves instead of releasing it to the atmosphere. [12] Although there are some differences between oxygenic photosynthesis in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, the overall process is quite similar in these organisms.
This constant cycle of carbon through the system is not the only element being transferred. In animal and plant respiration these living beings take in glucose and oxygen while emitting energy, carbon dioxide, and water as waste. These constant cycles provide for a influx of oxygen into the system and carbon out of the system.
The organic or inorganic substances (e.g., oxygen) used as electron acceptors needed in the catabolic processes of aerobic or anaerobic respiration and fermentation are not taken into account here. For example, plants are lithotrophs because they use water as their electron donor for the electron transport chain across the thylakoid membrane.
This is the main way that primary producers get energy and make it available to other forms of life. Plants, many corals (by means of intracellular algae), some bacteria (cyanobacteria), and algae do this. During photosynthesis, primary producers receive energy from the sun and use it to produce sugar and oxygen.
C4 plants use a modified Calvin cycle in which they separate Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase (RuBisCO) from atmospheric oxygen, fixing carbon in their mesophyll cells and using oxaloacetate and malate to ferry the fixed carbon to RuBisCO and the rest of the Calvin cycle enzymes isolated in the bundle-sheath cells.
Anaerobic respiration is correspondingly less efficient than aerobic respiration. In the absence of oxygen, not all of the carbon-carbon bonds in glucose can be broken to release energy. A great deal of extractable energy is left in the waste products. Anaerobic respiration generally occurs in prokaryotes in environments that do not contain oxygen.
In all bryophytes, the primary plants are the haploid gametophytes, with the only diploid portion being the attached sporophyte, consisting of a stalk and sporangium. Because these plants lack lignified water-conducting tissues, they cannot become as tall as most vascular plants. Algae, especially green algae. The algae consist of several ...