Cotton plants (Gossypium hirsutum L., var. Deltapine Smooth Leaf) were grown under controlled environmental conditions over a range of day/night temperatures from 20/15 to 40/35 C. Their photosynthetic characteristics were then measured over a comparable temperature range. Net photosynthesis tended stongly to be greatest, and intracellular resistance to CO(2) transport to be lowest, when the me...

Elevated partial pressures of atmospheric carbon dioxide, similar to numerous causes of plant stress, may alter leaf pigmentation and structure and thus would be expected to alter leaf optical properties. Hypotheses that elevated CO(2) pressure and air temperature would alter leaf optical properties were tested for sugar maple (Acer saccharum) in the middle of its fourth growing season under tr...

Rising temperatures and nutrient enrichment are co-occurring global-change drivers that stimulate microbial respiration of detrital carbon, but nutrient effects on the temperature dependence of respiration in aquatic ecosystems remain uncertain. We measured respiration rates associated with leaf litter, wood, and fine benthic organic matter (FBOM) across seasonal temperature gradients before (P...

Substantial errors can be introduced to estimates of leaf resistance (r(l)) obtained from diffusion porometers unless precautions are taken to reduce the leaf-cup temperature difference (T(leaf) - T(cup)) to acceptable levels prior to measurement. When T(leaf) > T(cup), underestimation of leaf resistance occurs; the reverse applies when T(leaf) < T(cup).The effect is most pronounced under open-...

Plant functional traits capture important variation in plant strategy and function. Recent literature has revealed that within-species variation in traits is greater than previously supposed. However, we still have a poor understanding of how intraspecific variation is coordinated among different traits, and how it is driven by environment. We quantified intraspecific variation in wood density ...

The spatial patterns for temperature distribution on crape myrtle leaves infested with sooty mold were investigated using a digital infrared thermal imaging camera. The mean temperatures of the control and sooty regions were 26.98°C and 28.44°C, respectively. In the thermal images, the sooty regions appeared as distinct spots, indicating that the temperatures in these areas were higher than tho...