Effect of temperature on light utilization efficiency of leaves in C3legumes and C4grasses

✍ Scribed by M. M. Ludlow

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1981
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 320 KB
• Volume: 1
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0166-8595
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00034267

✦ Synopsis

The effect of temperatures between 15 and 50°C on the light utilization efficiency of leaf net photosynthesis was studied in two C 4 grasses and two C3 legumes. In the legumes, light utilization efficiency (~ mol of CO2 f'txed per t~ Einstein of incident photosynthetic quantum flux) declined linearly with temperature between 15 and 45 ° C. On the other hand, it was independent of temperature between 15 and 40°C in the grasses, but it declined rapidly between 40 and 50 ° C. Values for grasses were greater than those for legumes at all temperatures; for example, at 30°C the ratio of the mean values of grass to legume was 1.6-1.7 which is similar to a previously published value of 1.6. Light utilization efficiency was similar for grasses and legumes only at temperatures below 10 and above 50°C. These findings are compared with published data, especially those of Ehleringer and Bj6rkman, and their implications for predicting or interpreting the distribution of C3 and C 4 species are briefly discussed.