Talk:C3 carbon fixation

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Plants that survive solely on C3 fixation (C3 plants) tend to thrive in areas where sunlight intensity is moderate, temperatures are moderate, carbon dioxide concentrations are around 200 ppm or higher, and ground water is plentiful. The C3 plants, originating during Mesozoic and Paleozoic era, predate the C4 plants and still represent approximately 95% of Earth's plant biomass. C3 plants must be in areas with high concentrations of carbon dioxide because RuBisCO often incorporates an oxygen molecule into the RuBP, instead of a carbon dioxide molecule. This breaks the RuBP into a three-carbon sugar that can remain in the Calvin cycle, and two molecules of glycolate which is oxidized into carbon dioxide, wasting the cell's energy. High concentrations of carbon dioxide lowers the chance that RuBisCO incorporates an oxygen molecule. C4 and CAM plants have adaptations that allow them to survive in areas where the plant cannot take in a lot of carbon dioxide.

The article, as currently written, contains inaccuracies regarding carbon dioxide concentrations.

Hot dry days cause C3 plants to close their stomata, starving the plant of CO2. This in turn causes O2 concentrations within the plant to exceed that of CO2, which causes photorespiration to occur. The result of this process is no food production and reduced carbon fixation.

If CO2 is the cause of climate change, and climate change is causing hot dry days, then this is another example of CO2 accumulation reinforcing itself.

35.9.40.68 00:08, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
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