A certain flower generates heat. This heat attracts pollinating insects to the flower. While the evolutionary benefit of attracting insects is obvious, the metabolic cost of this particular adaptation is high. What metabolic mechanism(s) might a plant use to generate heat and under what circumstances would the metabolic cost be high?
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The free energy of carbon dioxide and water is considerably less than the free energy of sucrose (table sugar). However, the conversion of sucrose to carbon dioxide and water is never spontaneous under normal conditions. How would you explain this observation?
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