Plants (C4 and CAM – corn and cacti/succulents) have evolved two distinct mechanisms to get around the photo-respiration problem. Briefly describe or illustrate these two mechanisms.
Photo-respiration is not normally a problem for plants in temperate regions like ours, but plants that evolved in dry arid conditions (desert) have a problem. They need to close their stomata to conserve H2O when the temperature is hot and light is available. This increases the concentration of O2 in the plant leaves until it becomes an issue for the plants (photo-respiration). Plants (C4 and CAM – corn and cacti/succulents) have evolved two distinct mechanisms to get around the photo-respiration problem. Briefly describe or illustrate these two mechanisms.
