Talk:Anaerobic organism

Template:FAOL Do we count plants as anaerobes? AxelBoldt 19:52 27 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Well, like us, plants use both aerobic and anaerobic respiration. They do use oxygen. They need the CO2 and water for photosynthesis, which produces O2 (molecular oxygen, the kind we breath), some water and sugars. Some of this O2 goes back out into the atmosphere, but some stays in the plant, and is used in its own aerobic respiration. I believe that some oxygen also enters through pores in the leaves during nighttime. RK 20:00 27 Jun 2003 (UTC)

When ligth is present, plants are essentially photosynthetic organisms. As such, they are neither aerobic nor anaerobic, because these terms apply on how oxigen is used (i.e. metabolized, or consumed). Plants do not use oxygen during photosyntesis, they produce oxygen. That's why we use the term oxygenic photosynthesis instead. Other organisms (some bacteria) carry out a different type of photosynthesis that does not release oxygen, called anoxygenic photosynthesis.

At night, or whenever light is not present, plants switch to a respiratory metabolism. Now they do consume oxygen to produce energy, and so we can say that they are aerobes, the same as all animals. The difference is that animals are allways aerobes, while plants are only at night. --Xavi 21:19, 9 Jun 2004 (UTC)

This seems contradictory: " Nanaerobes are organisms that cannot grow in the presence of micromolar concentrations of oxygen, but can grow with and benefit from nanomolar concentrations of oxygen." Could an expert correct? --h