Occurrences whereby cnidaria lose their symbiotic dinoflagellate microalgae (Symbiodinium spp.) are increasing in frequency and intensity. These so-called bleaching events are most often related to an increase in water temperature, which is thought to limit certain Symbiodinium phylotypes from effectively dissipating absorbed excitation energy that is otherwise used for photochemistry. Here, we...

L-Ascorbate (Asc) plays important roles in plant development, hormone signaling, the cell cycle and cellular redox system, etc. The higher content of Asc in plant chloroplasts indicates its important role in the photosystem. The objective of this study was to study the roles of Asc in tall fescue leaves against heat stress. After a heat stress treatment, we observed a lower value of the maximum...

To reveal and quantify the interactive effects of drought stresses and elevated CO2 concentration [CO2] on photochemistry efficiency of cucumber seedlings, the portable chlorophyll meter was used to measure the chlorophyll content, and the Imaging-PAM was used to image the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and rapid light response curves (RLC) of leaves in two adjacent greenhouses. The result...

Diatoms play a crucial role in the biochemistry and ecology of most aquatic ecosystems, especially because of their high photosynthetic productivity. They often have to cope with a fluctuating light climate and a punctuated exposure to excess light, which can be harmful for photosynthesis. To gain insight into the regulation of photosynthesis in diatoms, we generated and studied mutants of the ...

Aquatic organisms are exposed to fluctuating concentrations of herbicides which contaminate rivers following their use for agricultural or domestic purposes. The development of sensitive bioanalytical tests enabling us not only to detect the effects of those pollutants but to take into account this pattern of exposure should improve the ecological relevance of river toxicity assessment. In this...

Whole spinach (Spinacia oleracea) plants were subjected to heat stress (25 degrees C-50 degrees C) in the dark for 30 min. At temperatures higher than 35 degrees C, CO2 assimilation rate decreased significantly. The maximal efficiency of photosystem II (PSII) photochemistry remained unchanged until 45 degrees C and decreased only slightly at 50 degrees C. Nonphotochemical quenching increased si...

The effects of drought on Photosystem II (PSII) fluorescence and photosynthetic electron transport activities were analyzed in cotton. Water stress did not modify the amplitude of leaf variable fluorescence at room temperature in the presence of 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU) nor at 77 K. It is therefore concluded that photon collection, their distribution between the two photos...

The distribution of excitation energy between photosystems I and II (PSI and PSII) was investigated in the marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum (Bohlin) using light-induced changes in fluorescence yield and rate of modulated O(2) evolution. The intensity dependence of the fast fluorescence rise in dark adapted cells (+/-DCMU) suggests that light absorbed by the major antenna complex was not ...