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Photosynthesis and Respiration Are Linked, Not Opposed

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Photosynthesis consumes carbon dioxide and releases oxygen; respiration consumes oxygen and releases carbon dioxide — each process's output is the other's raw material.

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Oxygen released by a plant's photosynthesis can be taken up by that plant's own mitochondria, or by any nearby aerobic organism.

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Neither process's byproduct is waste — each is a substrate the other pathway depends on.