Are plants the only important photosynthetic organisms?

Question

"Plants are the only important photosynthetic organisms." Comment on this statement.

Answer 1

Two other groups of organisms are important in photosynthesis:
-- algae that are in Kingdom Protista
-- cyanobacteria that are in Kingdom Eubacteria or Kingdom Monera, depending on which classification system you use

Answer 2

Someone above mentioned algae; while they are important (since they produce about 70-80% of the earth's oxygen, after all!!), I was under the impression that they were classified as plants also; they're just not LAND plants. Specimens of algae are generally housed in herbariums, which would presumably also mean they are plants.

The only other species I know of that carry on photosynthesis are protists, such as some species of protozoa, as well as some bacterial species. These account for a relatively small percentage of the oxygen produced.

Since you didn't say "land plants," and since I have generally been taught that algae are plants, then I would concur that plants (including algae) are the only truly important photosynthetic organisms in existence; if you somehow seperate out algae and don't consider it a plant (which would puzzle me, since algae have cell walls), then certainly it is a very important photosynthetic organism on its own, seperate from land plants.

As to the answer your teacher wants - you'll have to ask her/him :-)

Answer 3

Photosynthesis evolved in prokaryotes, and there are a huge number of unicellular and prokaryotic photosynthetic organisms. I might agree with the statement if it was limited to land organisms, but as far as the "only" important photosynthetic organism, I would strongly disagree.

Answer 4

So, go and look for other organisms that have chlorophyll. As a clue, they live in water, and they are not seaweed.

Answer 5

i think yes .
but in future if u discover any other organism let me also know.
i will be most glad to hear it from u.