Photosynthesis

"Fungi wrap around tree roots, extending the tree's reach for water and nutrients in exchange for sugars the tree produces through photosynthesis. Cleaner wrasse - thumb-sized fish with electric blue stripes - swim directly into the mouths of predatory groupers that could swallow them whole."

"...ill you exhaust yourself adapting, or will you exhaust yourself dying? The Great Oxygenation Event 2.4 billion years ago, cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis. They consumed carbon dioxide and produced oxygen as waste. For hundreds of millions of years, oxygen levels rose slowly as dissolved iron and sulfur..."

"...t network: infrastructure for moving resources from source (roots extracting water and minerals from soil) to destination (leaves requiring water for photosynthesis). The oak tree's vascular system has two parallel highways - xylem (hollow tubes carrying water and minerals upward) and phloem (living cells..."

"...ches, oils) and cotyledons (embryonic leaves that sometimes store additional reserves). That's it. No roots to pull water or nutrients. No leaves for photosynthesis. Just a tank of fuel and a complex set of sensors deciding when to burn it. A corn kernel contains about 80% of its dry weight as starch - essential..."

"The forest root system is collective, not individual. Root Zone Investment: 30-60% of Plant Energy Photosynthesis happens above ground. But plants allocate 30-60% of the energy they capture to growing and maintaining roots."