Title: The importance of limiting factors – Higher - Photosynthesis - AQA - GCSE Combined Science Revision - AQA Trilogy - BBC Bitesize
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Photosynthesis - AQA
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The importance of limiting factors – Higher
Light
Carbon dioxide
Water
Temperature

Content: The importance of limiting factors – Higher - Photosynthesis - AQA - GCSE Combined Science Revision - AQA Trilogy - BBC Bitesize
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Photosynthesis - AQA
Plants make their own food using photosynthesis. The food that plants produce is important, not only for the plants themselves, but for the other organisms that feed on the plants. Part of
Combined Science
Bioenergetics
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The importance of limiting factors – Higher
Limiting factors of photosynthesis reduce yields of crops and other economically-important plants. Conditions can be set up in greenhouses and outside tunnels to reduce the effects of limiting factors. Light
Increasing the light intensity in greenhouses will increase the growth of crop or horticultural plants. Plant growers can: use greenhouses constructed from glass or alternative materials that enable maximum transmission of light
position plants for maximum light absorption
Artificial lighting systems can be used: with increased light intensities
that provide optimum wavelengths of light for photosynthesis
that lengthen a plant's growing season so that crops can be grown in more months of the year
Carbon dioxide
Many plants have the capacity to use additional carbon dioxide. The table shows an example of data collected by Robb and Wittwer (1964) on plants grown in normal, and carbon dioxide-enriched greenhouses. Normal yield
Enriched yield
Lettuce
0.9 kg
1.1 kg
Tomatoes
4.4 kg
6.4 kg
To increase the carbon dioxide concentration in a growing area, plant growers: