Uses of Energy from Respiration

📋 Uses of Energy from Respiration

The energy released by respiration is essential for every living process:

• Muscle contraction — movement and locomotion
• Maintaining body temperature — mammals and birds are endothermic
• Active transport — moving substances against concentration gradients (e.g., mineral ions in root hair cells)
• Building larger molecules — synthesising proteins from amino acids, starch from glucose, lipids from fatty acids and glycerol
• Cell division — growth and repair require energy for DNA replication and organelle production
• Nerve impulse transmission — maintaining electrical signals in neurones

All living organisms respire continuously — plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. Plants need energy from respiration just as much as animals do, even though they also photosynthesise.