7.05 Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration: Complimentary Processes

Welcome back to the BioDome kitchen! You met our head chef Maurice earlier. As he explained, if we're ever going to live under the sea or on other worlds, we have to understand plants and their many contributions; right Maurice?

In this activity, you will: relate the processes of photosynthesis in plants and cellular respiration carried out by most cells to recycling elements and energy in the environment explain how photosynthesis and cellular respiration are complimentary process

That's right. The food chain—the feeding relationship between organisms in an ecosystem—is very important to all living things. As you know, plants compose the base of the food chain. That is, they capture the energy of the sun and store it in their bodies. We, and other organisms, may eat plants directly when we have salad, fruits, nuts, and vegetables, but we also indirectly get energy from plants when we eat meat from organisms.

Take a minute to review some of the connections you learned earlier in the food chain diagram.

Recall that in any food chain, producers or plants are at the bottom. Plants can actually transfer energy from the sun into chemical (food) energy.

In addition to providing energy for other living things through the process of photosynthesis, plants also produce oxygen and recycle the carbon dioxide released by cells as a waste product of cellular respiration. In cellular respiration, cells take in oxygen gas, use up some glucose, and produce carbon dioxide.

Move on to the BioVenture tab to learn more about these two processes.