Question

The diagrams given below represent the relationship between a mouse and a physiological process that occurs in green plants. Study the diagrams and answer the questions that follow: Name the physiological process occurring in the green plant that has kept the mouse alive.

Answer 1

Hint: All living things require oxygen to survive. Oxygen is useful in growth, reproduction, and the conversion of food into energy. Humans breathe oxygen through their nose and mouth into their lungs. Plants release oxygen and intake of carbon dioxide.


Complete answer: Photosynthesis is a biological process that takes place in the green plant. This process of keeping the mouse alive in the above diagram. Photosynthesis is the physiological process of living plant cells. Plant cells contain chlorophyll to produce their food in the form of substances like glucose and starch using carbon dioxide, water, and light energy (mainly sunlight). Plants release oxygen into their surroundings during this process. Oxygen being a life supporter for the living organisms on the earth’s surface, is keeping the mouse alive. In the bell jar B, the green plant is absent therefore there is no oxygen by the photosynthesis process in jar B. The oxygen left in the jar upon closing has already been consumed by the burning candle and the mouse. As a result of lack of oxygen, the mouse died in jar B and the candle also got extinguished. The importance of the process of photosynthesis is that it is the only biological and physiological process that releases oxygen into the atmosphere which supports all life forms on the earth.
Additional Information:
Plants and algae contain organelles known as chloroplasts where the process of photosynthesis takes place. A normal plant cell has about 10 to 100 chloroplasts which are enclosed by a membrane. The membrane contains an aqueous fluid known as the stroma. Stroma is the stacks of thylakoids which make the grana the site of photosynthesis.
Note: The very first photosynthetic organisms used reducing agents like hydrogen or hydrogen sulphide. They evolved early in the evolutionary history of life. The cyanobacteria came into existence later and produced oxygen by the process of photosynthesis. The excess oxygen produced by them contributed to the oxygenation of the Earth directly. This made the evolution of higher life possible.