A LIBRARY OF DISCOVERIES
Every word is
a new discovery.
Find explanations, facts, and sources. Follow a single idea into a whole world of knowledge.
Results 11
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants, algae, and some bacteria use light energy to build energy-rich carbohydrates from water and carbon dioxide. In plants, chlorophyll and other pigments in chloroplasts absorb the light. Oxygen is released during photosynthesis. Energy stored in carbohydra…
Photosynthesis, CO2, and Warming
During photosynthesis, plants use energy from sunlight to combine carbon dioxide with water and produce sugars and oxygen. Burning coal, oil, and gas transfers carbon stored in geological deposits into the atmosphere as CO₂. The rise in CO₂ and other greenhouse gases due to human activity is the mai…
A sea slug retains borrowed chloroplasts
…otica can retain functional chloroplasts from algae it eats. They continue photosynthesis inside its tissues, a phenomenon called kleptoplasty. The slug neither becomes a plant nor creates these chloroplasts from scratch. The claim that no other animals do this is false: other sea slugs also retain …
CO2 in Cities
Urban CO₂ gradients reflect fossil-fuel emissions, respiration and photosynthesis by vegetation, boundary-layer height, and advection. In Paris, near-surface concentrations varied by time of day, season, and synoptic conditions; evening or stronger mixing can weaken the contrast, and local compariso…
Insects supply nutrients to carnivorous plants
…trients from them. Like many other green plants, they still need light for photosynthesis.
Plants Emit Photons Too Faint to See
…e its intensity. It is not a bright light that plants deliberately use for photosynthesis, nor is it chlorophyll fluorescence or delayed glow after illumination.
Forests and Atmospheric Oxygen
… of gross global oxygen production is associated with the ocean, including photosynthesis by microorganisms. Forests are vital for climate, the carbon cycle, and biodiversity, but not because they supply the “lion’s share” of the oxygen we breathe. [1–3]
Phytoplankton powers the ocean food web
… seawater itself. In sunlit surface waters, phytoplankton use sunlight for photosynthesis and need dissolved nutrients to grow. Zooplankton eat them, and energy then passes to fish and other animals. Seawater does contain dissolved mineral nutrients, but those are not the same as protein food. The c…
Fungal Networks Beneath the Forest Floor
…urn, the plant supplies the fungus with some of the carbon it made through photosynthesis. If the same fungal mycelium colonizes roots of several plants, they share a common mycorrhizal network. Controlled experiments and some field studies have recorded labelled carbon and other compounds moving be…
Oceanic Oxygen
…oduction coming from the ocean. This counts initial oxygen release through photosynthesis and does not mean net accumulation: respiration by phytoplankton and other organisms, plus decomposition, consume substantial O₂. Organic carbon buried outside the fast decomposition cycle is what is associated…
Amazonia and oxygen
To understand the difference, separate gross photosynthesis from the net balance. Estimates put the Amazon’s gross contribution to global photosynthetic oxygen production at roughly 6–9%, but the ecosystem consumes nearly as much oxygen through respiration and decomposition. The ocean produces about…