Hobbies And Interests
Carbohydrates
Plants create energy through the process of photosynthesis, in which energy from the sun is used to transform carbon dioxide into various organic compounds. Many of these are carbohydrates, which are sugars made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. In many cases, these compounds are quickly used, but plants that go dormant in the winter months develop unique systems for long-term storage.
Roots and Sap
Long-term energy storage in plants can take a number of forms, many of which are later used by animals. For example, carrots are widely consumed by animals, but their biological purpose is to store excess energy for use during periods when sunlight is not as available for the plant. In many plants, the root system exists to store energy as sugar, although some store sugar in other forms, such as sap that trees store through winter.
Energy Storage in Animals
Much like plants, animals take in energy when it is available and store it for use as it is needed. Unlike plants, however, this energy is stored as fat in tissues called adipose tissues. This fat acts as a reserve for organic compounds from food (such as carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables, and proteins from animals or legumes), so that meals can provide energy over longer periods of time. In animals that hibernate, building up a large reserve of fat is necessary to survive the winter months.
The Connection Between Animals and Plants
Because of how both plants and animals use and store energy, there is a great deal of interaction between these two systems. Much of the energy in food sources comes from stored plant energy: even when animals consume meat, that meat contains stored energy that at some point originated in plant energy. For example, if a cow eats grass, it stores the carbohydrates from those plants as fat; when a human eats beef from that cow, it is consuming the stored energy and converting and storing it again.