CO2
Calvin Cycle
RuBisCO
Limiting Factors
Graph Analysis
100

The types of chemical bonds holding together the single carbon atom and two oxygen atoms in a carbon dioxide molecule.

What are covalent double bonds?

100

The foundational 3-carbon sugar building block produced by the Calvin cycle used to synthesize glucose, starch, and lipids.

What is triose phosphate (TP)?

100

RuBisCO's primary biological classification as a macromolecule that accelerates chemical reactions.

What is an enzyme?

100

Under normal environmental conditions, atmospheric CO2 levels usually sit at this status for maximum photosynthetic efficiency.

What is sub-optimal?

100

What is The dependent variable plotted and tracked along the vertical axis of the detailed presentation graph.

What is the rate of photosynthesis?

200

Because it is small and non-polar, carbon dioxide is able to readily do this across phospholipid bilayers and stomata pores.

What is diffuse?

200

The specific initial phase of the Calvin cycle where a single molecule of CO2 is integrated into an organic molecule.

What is carbon fixation?

200

An increase in carbon dioxide concentration increases the frequency of these events between CO2 molecules and RuBisCO's active sites.

What are effective collisions?

200

When CO2 concentration is low, it acts as this specific agent, directly preventing photosynthesis from occurring at a faster rate.

What is a limiting factor?

200

The independent environmental variable tracked along the horizontal axis of the presentation graph.

What is the concentration of carbon dioxide?

300

In biological systems, CO2 serves as this primary type of source needed by autotrophs to build organic molecules.

What is a fully oxidized source of carbon?

300

The 5-carbon molecule that CO2 bonds with at the very beginning of the light-independent cycle.

What is ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP)?

300

Increasing CO2 levels favors this productive chemical activity of RuBisCO over its wasteful oxygenase activity.

What is carboxylase activity?

300

Once the maximum rate of photosynthesis is achieved, increasing CO2 further has this much effect on the overall rate.

What is little to no effect?

300

The trend shown on the graph when the rate of photosynthesis reaches a maximum and stops climbing altogether.

What is becomes constant

400

The specific area inside the chloroplast where CO2 functions during the light-independent stage of photosynthesis.

What is the stroma?

400

The brief, highly unstable molecule formed immediately after CO2 bonds with RuBP before splitting into two 3-carbon molecules.

What is a 6-carbon intermediate?

400

The term used to describe RuBisCO's wasteful oxygenase activity, which is minimized when CO2 concentrations rise.

What is photorespiration?

400

Along with light intensity, this environmental condition must be increased to lift a flattened photosynthesis rate line.

What is temperature?

400

The phrase used on the graph to describe the initial trend where the rate climbs steadily alongside early CO2 increases.

What is increases proportionately?

500

The primary structural structures on a leaf's surface that open to allow atmospheric gas exchange.

What are stomata pores?

500

These two chemical products derived from the light-dependent reactions are required to reduce glycerate 3-phosphate (GP) into triose phosphate (TP).

What are ATP and reduced NADP (NADPH)?

500

The physical condition reached when every single one of these specialized regions on the RuBisCO proteins is occupied, preventing further linear increases in the reaction rate.

What are enzyme active sites (becoming fully saturated)?

500

This resource limitation, along with temperature and light intensity, can cause the rate of photosynthesis to level off even if CO2 keeps rising.

Water Availability

500

According to the text explicitly printed underneath the flat plateau of the curve, these two alternative environmental inputs must be increased to lift the rate any further.

What are the temperature or the light intensity?