Energy is required by all living organisms to maintain life and for growth and reproduction. Autotrophs capture free energy from the environment through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis and store it in carbon compounds. Most cells of both plants and animals harvest this energy through cellular respiration, which converts ADP to ATP. ATP is used for almost all cellular activities that require energy. This investigation requires that you know and be able to apply scientific concepts and demonstrate scientific competence in designing and analyzing an experiment. You will work through the following steps: Review the reactants and products of cellular respiration. Learn how to measure the rate of cellular respiration in germinating peas in the laboratory. Practice analyzing data from an experiment measuring the rate of cellular respiration. Apply your understanding of factors that affect the rate of cellular respiration to predict experimental results in novel experiments.