do plants require oxygen to...

[pre_vet_gal]

Do plants require oxygen to carry on living as an aerobic organism? If yes how do you explain plants as being the main sourcec of oxygen production on earth?

thanks!

[Poison]

All organisms need oxygen for respiration.
Plants do photosynthesis and respiration during day, and only respiration during night. As a simle explanation we can say that: The amount of oxygen released is more than the amount of oxygen used. Thats why we call them the oxygen source. (but note that not only plants but all photosynthetic organisms are sources of oxygen)

[thank.darwin]

Right, plants use oxygen to get rid of the used hydrogen atoms by combining with them to form water.

[Poison]

water formation is a part of respiration (aerobic respiration) , isnt it? (actually the last part )

[thank.darwin]

Yes it is...

[biostudent84]

Yes, Poison. Plants are about 99% self-sufficient. They are able to recycle their oxygen, carbon, and water very effectively. I think they are mainly limited by the avaliablity of nitrogen in their enviornment (They cannot use atmospheric nitrogen...it is not in the proper molecule).

Kyle

[mith]

So plants with nitrogen fixing nodules are almost 100% self sufficient?

[thank.darwin]

Are there plants such as that?

[mith]

Legumes

[biostudent84]

So plants with nitrogen fixing nodules are almost 100% self sufficient?

I would say about 99.9% then...remember, this is biology...there are always exceptions

[robotics]

Legumes is an example, mychorrizae symbiotic relationships. Another one is Frankia. In the former case it's possible by Nod gene factors.

That's often times the main reason why people use fertilizers with lots of nitrogen in its useful form since not many plants can fix nitrogen and those that do benefit by spending energy it would normally use for N fixing to other things like greater gamete size (seed production).

[MrMistery]

Legumes, like all plants, ARE NOT CAPABLE OF FIXING NITROGEN FROM THE ATHMOSPHERE. They live in symbiosis with a type of bacteria, called nitorgen fixing bacteria(smart name ). This bacteria live on the roots like parazytes, but are not considered so because they can fix nitorgen and give it to the plant. These bacteria are Rhizobium sp. The most common one is the one living on legumes, rhizobium leguminosarum
PS: you probably knew this already, but i had to make sure!