Zachriel
Posts: 2723
Joined: Sep. 2006
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idnet.com.au | Quote | | Is Photosynthesis Irreducibly Complex? |
His primary cite indicates that "Photosynthetic complexes are exquisitely tuned to capture solar light efficiently." Tuning is making small adjustments in response to feedback, a standard evolutionary mechanism.
Anyway, though photosynthesis quite efficiently transfers quanta of energy to the plant's chemical factories, chlorophyll reflects much of the green light. (In some plants, carotenes absorb a portion of this energy and transfer it to the chlorophyll.) The process of making sugars for long-term energy storage is only about 1/3 efficient. Animals can access only a few percent after the plant has used its share for its own metabolism. Take out more energy for the cow, the meat factory, the truck, the refrigerator, and the guy flipping the burgers.
Chlorophyll may not absorb green light, but it is nonetheless more efficient than competing photosynthetic systems, such as retinals. Green plants may have originally evolved to compete with green-absorbing (purple) photosynthetic organisms.
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