I suppose the Sun's spectral characteristics might have changed a bit since chlorophyll evolved - though I wouldn't think *that* much. However, I agree with Brent - I would think that any plant that evolved the ability to absorb green light (not to mention infra red and all the other EM radiation knocking around) would have a distinct advantage over the current lot, and like Ice 9 the situation is surely unstable against something wandering into that part of the genetic landscape. But having no knowledge of biochemistry and suchlike I have no idea how likely that is.
On 18 June 2014 19:31, Russell Standish <li...@hpcoders.com.au> wrote: > On Tue, Jun 17, 2014 at 10:27:48PM -0700, meekerdb wrote: > > > > What is baffling to me is that photosynthesis in algae relies on > > absorption in the red and blue part of the spectrum, but reflects > > the big green part in between?? Why didn't it evolve another > > pigment to capture that in order to live in low light conditions? > > > > The idea I've heard is that the original photosynthesiser absorbed the > green portion of the spectrum, and then the current photosynthesiser > came along later, and made use of the remaining bits of the spectrum > (red+blue), and ultimately outcompeted the earlier photosynthesis > system. > > I gather the earlier photosynthetic system might still be around - the > so-called purple bacteria, which use a different photosynthesis process > producing sulfur, not oxygen. > > This also explain why the atmosphere was not oxygenated until ca 2Gya. > > But it does illustrate the way evolution can get stuck in a local > optima. And also further evidence that any purported Creator must be > completely incompetent. > > Cheers > > -- > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) > Principal, High Performance Coders > Visiting Professor of Mathematics hpco...@hpcoders.com.au > University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au > > Latest project: The Amoeba's Secret > (http://www.hpcoders.com.au/AmoebasSecret.html) > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
