Respiratory Chain:
Except for releasing energy, it can also...
-manufacture waxes, pigments, hormones, fats, oils...
-produce amino acids and the basic components of DNA and RNA
总之还有很多作用 (There are other uses as well)
Rate of Respiration:
1. Day/Night:
∵when stored sugar decreases, respiration descrease
∴respiration fastest just after sundown, lowest just before sunrise
2. Shade/Sun:
More exposure to light, faster the respiration
3. Fruit ripening (climacteric):
Young fruit: more respiration
Mature fruit: less respiration
(for some fruit, when approaching full ripeness, respiration rate will increase sharply, known as the climacteric rise)
Question: Mature fruits usually have more stored sugar. This seems to contradict with the previous assumptions.
Oxygen depletion:
-∵for plants growing in wetlands, the roots may be immersed in water (with low oxygen content), ∴there are air spaces extending from leaves to the root.
-in grass and sedges: hollow stems
-in bulkier plants: some roots grow vertically out of the water to transfer air to the submerged tissues.
