Bright Shadows 2: A Hinterlands Anthology

Welcome To Homestead: Part B

##

##

##

##

Photosynthesis

This may seem super-very-highly-obvious. Weather permitting, anywhere on Homestead's surface is so well lit that plant life should go hog-wild. However, the bioavailability of energy can fluctuate with (as far as plants are concerned) little advanced warning. Hence, the often-hyperactive ecosystem has a backup plan: environmental energy storage.

More on this in a bit.

Not all photosynthesis on Homestead gives off oxygen as a byproduct. On Earth, this usually happens in oxygen free environments. Homestead has twice as much available, atmospheric oxygen than Earth, plus a number of common chemicals that can support anoxic photosynthesis.

Moreover, not all respiration on Homestead produces carbon dioxide. Much of it produces carbon monoxide. Additionally, many lifeforms excrete nitrous oxide due to the high partial pressure of atmospheric nitrogen gas. It's also a convenient byproduct of oxidizing ammonia.

Homestead differs from Earth in that Homestead's biosphere excretes many chemical energy sources into its environment. Various types, and methods, of photosynthesis abundantly coexist. The same applies to respiration. This is mutualistic symbiosis on a global scale.

Photosynthesis via red or blue pigments:

Planet-wide, green light is a bountiful energy source: day and night, summer and winter. But chlorophyll is green.

Colors of visible light in order of descending magnitude of bioavailability on Homestead are first green, then red, and lastly blue. Hence, many plants on Homestead use blue pigments for photosynthesis. These blue pigments use iron, although there may be other possibilities. Copper-based, blue pigments are generally used for oxygen transfer.

(Note: chemically speaking, photosensitivity is a complex topic. New ideas may present themselves as I learn more. However, photosynthesis isn't always limited to one pigment. Red algae are terrestrial examples. I've also read about a purple photosynthesis that's less efficient than chlorophyl. Like I stated: complex.)

Green, chlorophyll rich, undergrowth would use stray, red light missed by the blue overgrowth, plus any available blue light. However, plants can have pigments that assist photosynthesis. (The red pigment in red algae helps red algae's chlorophyll.)

Permanently red, land-based plants on Homestead could metabolically resemble red algae on Earth. 

NOTE 1: My blue, photosynthetic pigments are — blatant — sci-fi.

I blended a smidge of organic chemistry with a drop medical data. That plus hemocyanin is a blue, oxygen transport pigment found in some sea creatures. Hemocyanin contains copper. (Hemoglobin contains iron.)

NOTE 2: Any blue, photosynthetic pigment that's copper-based is, for me, guesswork.

Could a blue, copper-based pigment really assist a plant's metabolism and respiration? Hmm...

Maybe!

("Walking," carnivorous plants, anyone? Anyone?? *BELCH* Never mind.) 

NOTE 3: Having too much methemoglobin in one's blood can turn a person blue. (I intend to research this more later.) While hemoglobin is mostly composed of amino acids, the iron containing pigment is not an amino acid. Unlike hemoglobin, methemoglobin can't transport oxygen.

In porphyria, chemicals related to the pigment in hemoglobin build up. This can cause dangerous photosensitivity, and/or other serious effects. [Porphyria is a serious medical condition multiple variations and causes. This is sci-fi. I'm not a doctor.]