WEB TOPIC 8-4 - Energy demands

WOLOSIUK, R.A. AND BUCHANAN, B.B.

Plant Physiology, 5th. ed

Sinauer Associates, Inc., Publishers,

Lugar: Sunderland, Massachusetts; Año: 2009; p. 1 - 7

Plants have evolved highly effective mechanisms to collect and use light to fix atmospheric CO2 within a pathway that produces a three-carbon sugar. These systems are highly efficient within the physical and thermodynamic constraints of photosynthesis and plant growth. The yield of material a plant can produce may be estimated based on the solar energy reaching Earth’s surface. All essential resources have to be abundant and environmental constraints must be controlled to accomplish the maximum plant yield.