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Photosynthesis: principles and field techniques

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Plant Physiological Ecology

Abstract

Among the people who do photosynthesis research at the leaf, plant or canopy level, the devices used to measure photosynthesis are usually referred to as gas-exchange systems or simply as ‘systems’. The concept that photosynthesis is measured with a system, rather than a single instrument, is an important place to start, for two reasons. First, the system concept emphasizes the fact that we have nothing like a discrete photosynthesis sensor. Photosynthesis is always a calculated parameter, determined from measurements of CO2 concentrations, gas flows and sometimes other parameters, depending on the measurement philosophy. Second, the system concept reminds us that gas-exchange systems typically measure more than just photosynthesis, for the reason that photosynthesis data are greatly enhanced by the simultaneous acquisition of other kinds of information.

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Authors
  1. Christopher B. Field
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  2. J. Timothy Ball
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  3. Joseph A. Berry
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

    Robert W. Pearcy

  2. Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    James R. Ehleringer

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Harold A. Mooney

  4. Laboratory of Biomedical and Environmental Sciences and Department of Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Philip W. Rundel

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Field, C.B., Ball, J.T., Berry, J.A. (1989). Photosynthesis: principles and field techniques. In: Pearcy, R.W., Ehleringer, J.R., Mooney, H.A., Rundel, P.W. (eds) Plant Physiological Ecology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2221-1_11

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