Question

Explain why plants have low energy needs as compared to animals.

Answer 1

Hint: Plants are nonmotile in nature and they do not need to move from one place to another place.

Complete answer:
In plants, the movements are usually at the cellular level and hence a far less amount of energy is required by plants. Animals need to move from one place to another; in search of food. Therefore, animals needed pretty higher energy than plants.
Plants are autotrophic in nature; they synthesize their own food via photosynthesis so they do not need to search for food for survival. However, animals are motile and heterotrophic in nature and they depend on plants and lower organisms for survival. So, they need more energy to search for food and survival.
Most of the transport in plants occurs through passive transport which does not require energy. In a large plant body, many dead cells are present like sclerenchyma and they stand in one place. While, most of the animal tissues are living cells that need the energy to make up all the organs, structures, and other contents of the body. Hence, plants needed far less energy than animals.

There are a few reasons given below that explains why animals require more energy than plants
- They need the energy to accomplish the tasks of life such as in search of food, mate, and shelter.
- Animals have a complex digestive system; it requires more energy to break down the food.
- The animal requires energy to maintain a constant temperature of the body.
- Animals perform various essential body functions like movement, respiration, growth, reproduction, excretion, and nutrition that requires high energy.
Note:
> Oxygen is an essential component of cellular respiration. Plants utilize oxygen to store energy in the form of ATP.
> Phosphorus is another macromolecule that is necessary to synthesize nucleic acids and phospholipids.