We investigated light acclimation in seedlings of the temperate oak Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl. and the co-occurring sub-Mediterranean oak Quercus pyrenaica Willd. Seedlings were raised in a greenhouse for 1 year in either 70 (HL) or 5.3% (LL) of ambient irradiance of full sunlight, and, in the following year, subsets of the LL-grown seedlings were transferred to HL either before leaf flushi...

ABSTRACT Phytophthora ramorum, causal agent of sudden oak death, is responsible for widespread oak mortality in California and Oregon, and has the potential to infect 100 or more species. Symptoms range from stem girdling and shoot blight to leaf spotting. In this study, we examined the physiological impacts of P. ramorum infection on Rhododendron macrophyllum. In stem-inoculated plants, photos...

Effects of phosphorus supply and mycorrhizal status on the response of photosynthetic capacity to elevated CO(2) were investigated in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) seedlings. Seedlings were grown in greenhouses maintained at either 35.5 or 71.0 Pa CO(2) in a full factorial experiment with or without mycorrhizal inoculum (Pisolithus tinctorius (Pers.) Coker & Couch) and with an adequate or a li...

Plant productivity relies on photosynthesis, and the photosynthetic process relies on phosphorus (P). The genetic basis of photosynthesis and P efficiency (PE) affecting yield has been separately characterized in various crop plants. However, the genetic relationship between PE and photosynthesis remains to be elucidated. In this study, we used a combined analysis of phenotypic correlation, lin...

High-resolution imaging of chlorophyll a fluorescence from intact tobacco leaves was used to compare the quantum yield of PSII electron transport in the chloroplasts of guard cells with that in the underlying mesophyll cells. Transgenic tobacco plants with reduced amounts of Rubisco (anti-Rubisco plants) were compared with wild-type tobacco plants. The quantum yield of PSII in both guard cells ...

Photosynthesis in the intermediate light range is most efficient when the convexity of the photosynthetic light-response curve is high. Factors determining the convexity were examined for intact leaves using Salix sp. and for a plant cell culture using the green microalga Coccomyxa sp. It was found that the leaf had lower convexity than diluted plant cells because the light gradient through the...

Although temperature is an important driver of seasonal changes in photosynthetic physiology, photoperiod also regulates leaf activity. Climate change will extend growing seasons if temperature cues predominate, but photoperiod-controlled species will show limited responsiveness to warming. We show that photoperiod explains more seasonal variation in photosynthetic activity across 23 tree speci...

To determine the effect of growth under elevated CO(2) partial pressures (pCO(2)) on photosynthetic electron transport and photoprotective energy dissipation, we examined light-saturated net photosynthetic CO(2) assimilation (A(sat)), the capacity for photosynthetic O(2) evolution, chlorophyll fluorescence emission and the pigment composition of upper-canopy loblolly pine needles in the eighth ...

Few studies have assessed the biophysical properties controlling reflection and absorption of light in coral reef environments and their relationships with quantitative measures of reef health and productivity. The present article examines the relationship between spectral reflectance, photosynthetic capacity, and chlorophyll a from common coral reef substrates. Reflectance readings of several ...