Still wondering why leaves are green and not purple or even black? CHLOROPHYLL! It’s how leaves work.
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MinuteEarth provides an energetic and entertaining view of trends in earth’s environment — in just a few minutes!
Created by Henry Reich, with Alex Reich, Peter Reich, Rose Eveleth, Emily Elert, and John Guittar.
Music by Nathaniel Schroeder http://www.soundcloud.com/drschroeder
Papers referred to in the making of this video:
Blankenship, Robert E. 2010. Early evolution of photosynthesis. Plant physiology 154(2): 434-438. http://www.plantphysiology.org/content/154/2/434.full.pdf+html
Hohmann-Marriott, M. F., & Blankenship, R. E. 2011. Evolution of photosynthesis. Annual review of plant biology 62: 515-548. http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-arplant-042110-103811
Raven, J. A. 2009. Functional evolution of photochemical energy transformations in oxygen-producing organisms. Functional Plant Biology 36(6): 505-515. http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=FP09087.pdf