Process
Photosynthesis
Using light energy to turn carbon dioxide and water into sugar, releasing oxygen.
C4 photosynthesis
A carbon-concentrating form of photosynthesis that evolved many separate times, in plants such as maize.Source: Sage, 2004
Process
How C4 photosynthesis connects
C4 photosynthesis is an example of
Process
Natural selection
Individuals better suited to their surroundings leave more offspring, so their inherited traits become more common. Darwin's finches and peppered moths are well-studied examples.
Studied in
Your progress
Sources & further reading
The explanations on this page are our own summaries of these sources. Follow a link to read the original; if anything here disagrees with it, the original wins. How we choose and check sources.
The evolution of C4 photosynthesis (opens the original in a new tab)
Sage RF (2004). New Phytologist 161:341-370.
Peer-reviewedReview