Warm Up 10/28

1. Why do plants need both mitochondria and chloroplasts?
Plants need both chloroplasts and mitochondria because plants produce convert solar energy into chemical energy but they also need energy for growth and metabolic processes.  The conversion of solar energy into chemical energy in the form of glucose occurs during photosynthesis, which occurs in the chloroplasts.  Plants, just like all other living organisms, need energy.  This energy is produced during cellular respiration, which takes place in the mitochondria.

2. You have a leaf from each of two very different plants.  One leaf has more pigments than the other.  Which leaf would have the greater photosynthetic rate, assuming all affecting factors are equal.
The leaf with more pigments will have a greater photosynthetic rate, because more pigments allow more photosynthesis to occur, increasing the rate of photosynthesis.

3. Outline the effect of temperature, light intensity, and carbon dioxide concentration on the rate of photosynthesis.
As temperature increases, the rate of photosynthesis increases more and more steeply until it reaches an optimum temperature.  Above the optimum temperature, the rate of photosynthesis falls steeply.  At low to medium light intensities, the rate of photosynthesis is dirtily proportional to light intensity.  At high light intensities, the rate of photosynthesis plateaus.  At very low carbon dioxide concentrations, no photosynthesis occurs.  At low to fairly high carbon dioxide concentrations, the rate of photosynthesis is positively correlated with CO2 concentration.  At very high CO2 concentrations, the rate of photosynthesis plateaus.