Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis uses light energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into energy-rich organic compounds. In oxygenic photosynthesis, it also releases oxygen.

Light-dependent reactions: Reactions that use light to produce ATP and NADPH, while splitting water in oxygenic photosynthesis. They convert captured light into the chemical energy and reducing power used to fix carbon.
Chloroplast: A plant and algal organelle containing the machinery for oxygenic photosynthesis. Its thylakoid membranes and stroma house the major stages of photosynthesis.
Cellular respiration: The set of cellular pathways that extract usable energy from organic molecules, often using oxygen. It consumes organic compounds and oxygen that oxygenic photosynthesis can produce.
Crop yield: The amount of harvestable agricultural product produced per unit of land or other input. Photosynthetic carbon gain sets a major limit on the biomass available for harvest.
Great Oxidation Event: A major rise in atmospheric oxygen around 2.4 billion years ago, driven largely by oxygenic photosynthesis. Oxygen released by ancient photosynthesizers accumulated and changed Earth's surface environment.
Calvin cycle: A cycle of reactions that incorporates carbon dioxide into organic molecules using ATP and NADPH. It is the main route by which photosynthetic carbon fixation builds carbohydrate precursors.
Chlorophyll: A family of light-absorbing pigments found in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. Chlorophyll captures light that powers photosynthetic reactions.
Photorespiration: A process initiated when RuBisCO reacts with oxygen instead of carbon dioxide, consuming energy and releasing carbon dioxide. It competes with carbon fixation, especially when leaves are hot or water-stressed.
C3 carbon fixation: A carbon-fixation pathway in which the first stable product has three carbon atoms. It is the predominant pathway in plants and a target for improving crop productivity.
Oxygen: A chemical element that forms about 21 percent of Earth's present atmosphere as O₂. Oxygenic photosynthesis is the principal biological source of atmospheric oxygen.

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