 |  Biology Laboratory Manual, 6/e Darrell S. Vodopich,
Baylor University
Randy Moore,
University of Minnesota--Minneapolis
Why is Photosynthesis Important? | Life is powered by sunlight. The energy used by most living cells comes ultimately from the sun. Plants, algae, and some bacteria use energy from sunlight, particularly blue and red wavelengths, to build molecules which later can be split through cellular respiration to retrieve some of that energy. Storing energy in molecules and then oxidizing those molecules to retrieve the stored energy maintains all life on Earth.
Plants are often called ‘producers’ because they produce energy-storing molecules used by almost all other organisms on Earth. By eating plants, herbivores ‘steal’ these energy-storing molecules to maintain their own life processes. By eating animals, carnivores ‘plunder’ the molecules that store the energy oringinally captured by plants. By feeding on dead tissue, decomposers exploit whatever molecules remain in the dead the plants, herbivores, and carnivores.
Ultimately, the process of photosynthesis is the most important chemical reaction on Earth. As biologists are well aware, “Roses are red, violets are blue. If the green plants go, then so do you!”
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2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education