Photosynthesis The Basis of Life on Earth

The carbon dioxide comes from the air, and the water comes from the soil in which the plant grows. When a plant is watered or when it rains, water enters the root and is transported to the leaves by plant cells called xylem. To protect themselves against drying out, leaves have structures called stomata that allow gas to enter and leave. Stoma is from the Greek and means hole. Both carbon dioxide and the oxygen produced during photosynthesis pass in and out of the leaf through the opened stomata. 

Chlorophyll is the green pigment that captures the light energy used for photosynthesis. 

Chlorophyll is also found in green algae. Photosynthetic bacteria have a modified kind of chlorophyll called bateriochlorophyll. 

All chlorophylls are composed of a flat ring of carbon atoms, called a porphyrin, that surrounds a central magnesium ion. There 

Light is a part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which is more familiar than one might think. In addition to visible light, the electromagnetic spectrum includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared, ultraviolet, and X-rays. The only part of the electromagnetic spectrum detectable to humans is visible light. 

---

The basis for these non-photosynthesis based communities are bacteria that obtain energy from the oxidation of hydrogen sulfide escaping from the vents—a process called chemosynthesis. These bacteria (primary producers) are then used as foods by tube worms, huge clams, and mussels, and other organisms (primary consumers) living around the vents. These communities live in total isolation from photosynthetic-based communities (all other biological communities are photosynthesis based), and may provide clues to the nature of early life on Earth. Later studies have shown that hydrothermal vent communities exist in other parts of the ocean depths as well. 

Photosynthesis is the process which transforms solar energy into chemical energy that can be used by living cells. It is the basis of all life on earth. 

Since virtually all other forms of life are directly or indirectly dependent on plants for food, photosynthesis is the basis for all life on earth. Furthermore virtually all the atmospheric oxygen has originated horn oxygen released during photosynthesis. 

---