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World Production of Organic Matter

  • Chapter
Food Chains and Human Nutrition

Abstract

There are not many people nowadays who need reminding that our fossil carbon reserves—whether for fuel or chemicals—are the products of past photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the key process in life and as developed by plants can be simply represented as:

$${{H}_{2}}O+C{{O}_{2}}\xrightarrow[solarenergy]{plants}organicmaterials+{{O}_{2}}$$

In addition to C, H and O, plants also incorporate nitrogen and sulphur into organic material via light-dependent reactions—this latter point is often not appreciated. Thus the basic processes of photosynthesis have determined life as we know it and will continue to play the major role in the integration of bioenergetic systems in the future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Sciences, University of London King’s College, London, UK

    D. O. Hall (Professor of Biology)

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  1. D. O. Hall
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, UK

    Kenneth Blaxter (Director) (Director)

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© 1980 Applied Science Publishers Ltd

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Hall, D.O. (1980). World Production of Organic Matter. In: Blaxter, K. (eds) Food Chains and Human Nutrition. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7336-0_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7336-0_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-011-7338-4

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