Dark Leaf Respiration in Light and Darkness of an Evergreen and a Deciduous Plant Species.

Dark respiration in light as well as in dark was estimated for attached leaves of an evergreen (Heteromeles arbutifolia Ait.) and a deciduous (Lepechinia fragans Greene) shrub species using an open gas-exchange system. Dark respiration in light was estimated by the Laisk method. Respiration rates in the dark were always higher than in the light, indicating that light inhibited respiration in both species. The rates of respiration in the dark were higher in the leaves of the deciduous species than in the evergreen species. However, there were no significant differences in respiration rates in light between the species. Thus, the degree of inhibition of respiration by light was greater in the deciduous species (62%) than in the evergreen species (51%). Respiration in both the light and darkness decreased with increasing leaf age. However, because respiration in the light decreased faster with leaf age than respiration in darkness, the degree of inhibition of respiration by light increased with leaf age (from 36% in the youngest leaves to 81% in the mature leaves). This suggests that the rate of dark respiration in the light is related to the rate of biosynthetic processes. Dark respiration in the light decreased with increasing light intensity. Respiration both in the light and in the dark was dependent on leaf temperature. We concluded that respiration in light and respiration in darkness are tightly coupled, with variation in respiration in darkness accounting for more than 60% of the variation in respiration in light. Care must be taken when the relation between respiration in light and respiration in darkness is studied, because the relation varies with species, leaf age, and light intensity.

Comparison of Methods to Estimate Dark Respiration in the Light in Leaves of Two Woody Species.

Dark respiration in the light was estimated in leaves of two woody species (Heteromeles arbutifolia Ait. and Lepechinia fragans Greene) using two different approaches based on gas-exchange techniques: the Kok method and the Laisk method. In all cases, dark respiration in the light was lower (P < 0.05) than respiration in darkness, indicating that dark respiration was inhibited in the light. Rates of dark respiration in the light estimated by the Laisk method were 52% higher (P < 0.05) than those estimated by the Kok method. Differences between the methods could be explained by the low ambient CO2 concentrations required by the Laisk approach. The mean value of the inhibition of respiration by light for the two species, corrected for the ambient CO2 concentration effect, was 55%. Despite the differences in leaf characteristics between the species, values of the CO2 photocompensation point, at which the rate of photosynthetic CO2 uptake equaled that of photorespiratory CO2 evolution, were very constant, suggesting an excellent consistency in the results obtained with the Laisk approach.

Photosynthetic responses of cassava cultivars (Manihot esculenta Crantz) from different habitats to temperature.

Maximum photosynthetic CO2 exchange rates (Pn) of single attached leaves were determined for several cassava cultivars selected from different habitats and grown in pots outdoors at CIAT, Colombia, S.A. Pn rates were in a narrow range of 22 to 26 µmol CO2 m(-2)s(-1) for all cultivars tested when measured at high photon flux density, normal air, optimum temperature and with low leaf-air vapor pressure differences. For all tested cultivars (9 cvs.), there was a broad optimum temperature for Pn between 25 to 35°C. At temperatures below and above this range Pn declined in all cultivars with Pn rates reaching 80% of maximum at 20 and 40°C. Pn temperature coefficient (Q10) from 15-25°C was 1.6±0.2 across cultivars. No consistent relation existed between Pn, optimum temperature, and the original habitat.

Polyphosphate granules in encysted zoospores of Rozella allomycis.

Methods of ultracytochemistry and of X-ray energy dispersive analysis have been used to demonstrate that the "gamma-like" granules in encysted zoospores of the chytrid Rozella allomycis contain polyphosphate. The possibility that cysts contain two classes of polyphosphate granules which differ in structure, in function, and in origin is discussed.

Blastocladia and aqualinderella: fermentative water molds with high carbon dioxide optima.

The uniflagellate aquatic phycomycete Blastocladia ramosa appears to be a facultative anaerobe. Blastocladia pringsheimii requires traces of oxygen. Growth of both species is no greater or only slightly greater at normal atmospheric oxygen pressure than under 0.2 percent oxygen pressure, but their growth is enhanced by the addition of 5 or 20 percent carbon dioxide. The cells of both species lack typical cristate mitochondria and contain only traces of cytochrome. Blastocladia resembles the biflagellate Aqualinderella fermentans in adaptation to an environment poor in oxygen and rich in carbon dioxide.