Which is NOT an possible adaptive reason that C4 plants are so common: A. They a

Question

Which is NOT an possible adaptive reason that C4 plants are so common:

A. They are competitive in low light environments such as forests

B. PEPcarboxylase has a lower nitrogen content than the huge RUBISCO, thus C4’s with less RUBISCO have lower leaf N contents and thus are adaptive in low nitrogen environments.

C. Lower CO2 concentrations inside the C4 leaf allow the plants to have lower stomatal conductances and less water loss for the same photosynthetic rate, as per Fick’s law. This makes them adaptive in water limited environments.

D. A lack of photorespiration leads to C4’s being adaptive in hot environments

A. They are competitive in low light environments such as forests

B. PEPcarboxylase has a lower nitrogen content than the huge RUBISCO, thus C4’s with less RUBISCO have lower leaf N contents and thus are adaptive in low nitrogen environments.

C. Lower CO2 concentrations inside the C4 leaf allow the plants to have lower stomatal conductances and less water loss for the same photosynthetic rate, as per Fick’s law. This makes them adaptive in water limited environments.

D. A lack of photorespiration leads to C4’s being adaptive in hot environments

Explanation / Answer

Answer: D

In C4 plants, photorespiration increases in the hot environments. In photorespiration, ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase (RUBISCO) starts utilizing oxygen instead of carbon dioxide resulting in the formation of 3-phosphoglyceric acid and glycolate. The glycolate enters peroxisome ad mitochondria where it is broken to carbon dioxide. The loss of carbon atoms through photorespiration decreases the productivity of plants.

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