Explain 3 ways in which a leaf is adapted for photosynthesis. [6 marks]
Can efficiently absorb sunlight- upper part of leaf contains tightly packed palisade mesophyll cells; cells have large vacuole which pushes chloroplasts to the edge of leaf and well developed cytoskeleton to push chloroplasts to the side of the cell receiving the most light.Rapidly carries out gaseous exchange- spongy mesophyll layer contains lots of air spaces, meaning there is a lot of surface area for CO2 to diiffuse into cells and oxygen to diffuse out. Leaf is also very thin, so there is a very short diffusion distance for gases.Chloroplasts well adapted for photosynthetic reaction- organisation of thylakoids into grana creates a large surface area for reactions to take place on. Thylakoid double membrane contains many photosystems allowing it to effectively channel light energy.(will use diagrams to further explain the answer)
