Purple earth, and why chlorophyll is green

[Ocelaris]

I saw this video and thought immediately of Dana's work on photo inhibition. The theory goes that chlorophyll based light absorbing life evolved in a purple dominated light absorbing environment. The interesting question is why life doesn't make use of the green spectrum, when it's the most plentiful.

 

[Dana Riddle]

Interesting! Thanks for sharing. Eventually, the green light-absorbing Peridinin-Chlorophyll-Protein would evolve to make use of green wavelengths penetrating seawater. Something else to ponder while drinking my first cup of coffee...