Old-fashioned Carbon Fixing

摘要

The grass family has evolved several innovations that have made it one of the most widespread and speciose plant families. One of these innovations has been the origin of the C_4 photosynthetic pathway, which fixes carbon to form carbohydrates at relatively high temperatures and relatively low CO_2 (in comparison to the older C_3 pathway) and which is believed to have arisen independently several times within the grass lineage.