Plant Growth Processes

The unique ability of water to regulate temperatures, dissolve molecules of life, and allow gas exchange, is essential for all life on earth. Transpiration is essential for evaporative cooling, carbon dioxide acquisition, maintaining plant turgor, and mineral nutrient uptake. Photosynthesis converts carbon dioxide into simple carbohydrates. Respiration releases energy obtained from photosynthesis, and is a central metabolic hub, ultimately resulting in the complex organic molecules that form the basis of plants. Many complex carbon molecules also incorporate mineral nutrients acquired from the soil.