<P> The light - independent reactions, or dark reactions, of photosynthesis are chemical reactions that convert carbon dioxide and other compounds into glucose . These reactions occur in the stroma, the fluid - filled area of a chloroplast outside the thylakoid membranes . These reactions take the products (ATP and NADPH) of light - dependent reactions and perform further chemical processes on them . </P> <P> These reactions are closely coupled to the thylakoid electron transport chain as reducing power provided by NADPH produced in the photosystem I is actively needed . The process of photorespiration, also known as C2 cycle, is also coupled to the dark reactions, as it results from an alternative reaction of the RuBisCO enzyme, and its final byproduct is also another glyceraldehyde - 3 - P . </P> <P> The Calvin cycle, Calvin--Benson--Bassham (CBB) cycle, reductive pentose phosphate cycle or C3 cycle is a series of biochemical redox reactions that take place in the stroma of chloroplast in photosynthetic organisms . </P> <P> The cycle was discovered by Melvin Calvin, James Bassham, and Andrew Benson at the University of California, Berkeley by using the radioactive isotope carbon - 14 . </P>

Where does the calvin cycle of photosynthesis occur