Other than giving a leaf its color, what is the purpose of a plant pigment?

1 Answer

Explanation:

The most important pigment in a leaf is chlorophyll. This pigment is found in the chloroplasts and is important for the process of photosynthesis.

Here is a video of chloroplasts moving in a leaf from an elodea plant. The green color of these organelles is caused by the green pigment, chlorophyll, which is found inside of the chloroplasts in structures called a thylakoid.

In the video you can see chloroplasts moving in response to light.

The chlorophyll helps to absorb light energy which is used to split water to make oxygen gas during the light reaction of photosynthesis. This process also creates ATP and NADPH which are used by the dark reaction (Calvin Cycle) to produce carbohydrates like glucose.

This video provides a summary of photosynthesis and shows video of an experiment conducted to test how varying levels of carbon dioxide can alter the rate of photosynthesis.

Hope this helps!