Can we measure terrestrial photosynthesis from space directly,using spectral reflectance and fluorescence?

Attempts to estimate photosynthetic rate or gross primary productivity from remotely sensed absorbed solar radiation depend on knowledge of the light use efficiency (LUE). Early models assumed LUE to be constant, but now most researchers try to adjust it for variations in temperature and moisture stress. However, more exact methods are now required. Hyperspectral remote sensing offers the possibility of sensing the changes in the xanthophyll cycle, which is closely coupled to photosynthesis. Several studies have shown that an index (the photochemical reflectance index) based on the reflectance at 531 nm is strongly correlated with the LUE over hours, days and months. A second hyperspectral approach relies on the remote detection of fluorescence, which is a directly related to the efficiency of photosynthesis. We discuss the state of the art of the two approaches. Both have been demonstrated to be effective, but we specify seven conditions required before the methods can become operational.     

CO2 balance of boreal, temperate, and tropical forests derived from a global database

Terrestrial ecosystems sequester 2.1 Pg of atmospheric carbon annually. A large amount of the terrestrial sink is realized by forests. However, considerable uncertainties remain regarding the fate of this carbon over both short and long timescales. Relevant data to address these uncertainties are being collected at many sites around the world, but syntheses of these data are still sparse. To facilitate future synthesis activities, we have assembled a comprehensive global database for forest ecosystems, which includes carbon budget variables (fluxes and stocks), ecosystem traits (e.g. leaf area index, age), as well as ancillary site information such as management regime, climate, and soil characteristics. This publicly available database can be used to quantify global, regional or biome‐specific carbon budgets; to re‐examine established relationships; to test emerging hypotheses about ecosystem functioning [e.g. a constant net ecosystem production (NEP) to gross primary production (GPP) ratio]; and as benchmarks for model evaluations. In this paper, we present the first analysis of this database. We discuss the climatic influences on GPP, net primary production (NPP) and NEP and present the CO₂ balances for boreal, temperate, and tropical forest biomes based on micrometeorological, ecophysiological, and biometric flux and inventory estimates. Globally, GPP of forests benefited from higher temperatures and precipitation whereas NPP saturated above either a threshold of 1500 mm precipitation or a mean annual temperature of 10 °C. The global pattern in NEP was insensitive to climate and is hypothesized to be mainly determined by nonclimatic conditions such as successional stage, management, site history, and site disturbance. In all biomes, closing the CO₂ balance required the introduction of substantial biome‐specific closure terms. Nonclosure was taken as an indication that respiratory processes, advection, and non‐CO₂ carbon fluxes are not presently being adequately accounted for.     

The European carbon balance. Part 3: forests

We present a new synthesis, based on a suite of complementary approaches, of the primary production and carbon sink in forests of the 25 member states of the European Union (EU‐25) during 1990–2005. Upscaled terrestrial observations and model‐based approaches agree within 25% on the mean net primary production (NPP) of forests, i.e. 520±75 g C m^?2 yr^?1 over a forest area of 1.32 × 10⁶ km² to 1.55 × 10⁶ km² (EU‐25). New estimates of the mean long‐term carbon forest sink (net biome production, NBP) of EU‐25 forests amounts 75±20 g C m^?2 yr^?1. The ratio of NBP to NPP is 0.15±0.05. Estimates of the fate of the carbon inputs via NPP in wood harvests, forest fires, losses to lakes and rivers and heterotrophic respiration remain uncertain, which explains the considerable uncertainty of NBP. Inventory‐based assessments and assumptions suggest that 29±15% of the NBP (i.e., 22 g C m^?2 yr^?1) is sequestered in the forest soil, but large uncertainty remains concerning the drivers and future of the soil organic carbon. The remaining 71±15% of the NBP (i.e., 53 g C m^?2 yr^?1) is realized as woody biomass increments. In the EU‐25, the relatively large forest NBP is thought to be the result of a sustained difference between NPP, which increased during the past decades, and carbon losses primarily by harvest and heterotrophic respiration, which increased less over the same period.     

EFFECTS OF GIBBERELLIN AND AUXIN ON THE EXTENSIBILITY OF THE PEA STEM

Excised pieces of etiolated Alaska pea stem were pulled longitudinallyor transversely, and elongation or bending was measured. Pieces treated with IAA were stretched conspicuously when longitudinalforce was applied, and continued elongating under the forceat approximately the same rate as without it. Control piecesbehaved in a similar way, but on a smaller scale. Pieces treatedwith gibberellin scarcely elongated under the force, but elongatedwithout it. IAA-treated stem pieces were bent by transverse force more easily,and gibberellin-treated ones less easily than control. (Received February 1, 1960; )     

Vapour Pressure Deficit Response of Cuticular Conductance in Intact Leaves of Fagus sylvatica L.

The cuticular conductance (g_c) of the astomatous adaxial surfaceof Fagus sylvatica L. leaves was determined under varying vapourpressure deficits at a constant temperature of 20 °C. Cuticularconductance was determined from the weight loss of detachedleaves after both the stomatous abaxial surface and the cutend of the petiole had been sealed using low melting-point paraffinwax. Cuticular conductance was found to decrease as the watervapour pressure was increased in steps. No response was observedwhen vapour pressure deficit was decreased from an initiallyhigh value. It is concluded that these results are consistentwith the hypothesis that cuticular conductance is influencedby the water content of the cuticle and that the apparent hysteresisis likely to be a result of the long time-constant for the processof cuticle rehydration in intact leaves. Key words: Cuticle, cuticular conductance, Fagus sylvatica L., Fagaceae, vapour pressure deficit, VPD     

An Assessment of Proteolytic Enzymes in Tetrahymena thermophila

Cellular extracts of Tetrahymena thermophila were found to contain substantial levels of proteolytic activity. Protein digestion occurred over broad ranges of pH, ionic strength, and temperature and was stimulated by treatment with thiol reductants, EDTA and sodium dodecyl sulfate. Incubation at temperatures ≥60° C or with high concentrations of chaotropic reagents such as 10 M urea or 6 M guanidine-HCl caused an apparent irreversible loss of activity. Activity was also strongly diminished by increasing concentrations of divalent cations. Several peptide aldehydes, p-hydroxymercuribenzoate, and alkylating reagents such as iodoacetate, N-tosyl-L-lysine chloromethyl ketone, N-tosyl-L-phenylalanine chloromethyl ketone, N-methylmaleimide, and trans-epoxysuccinyl-L-leucylamido-(4-guanidino)-butane were potent inhibitors of proteolytic activity. Aprotinin diminished activity by approximately 40% while benzamidine, 3,4-dichloroisocoumarin, and trypsin inhibitors from soy bean, lima bean, and chicken egg caused relatively modest inhibition of proteolytic activity. Phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride had no apparent effect. Electrophoretic separation of proteins on SDS-polyacrylamide gels copolymerized with gelatin substrate revealed that at least eight active proteolytic enzymes were present in cell extracts ranging in apparent molecular weight from 45,000 to 110,000. Five of these apparent proteases were detected in 70% ammonium sulfate precipitates. Gelatinase activity was not detectable when extracts were pretreated with iodoacetate or E-64, indicating that all of the enzymes observed in activity gels were sensitive to thiol alkylation. Cellular extracts of T. thermophila appeared to contain multiple forms of proteolytic enzymes which were stimulated by thiol reductants and inhibited by thiol modifying reagents. Accordingly, the proteolytic enzymes present in cell extracts appear to be predominantly cysteine proteinases.     

A simple calibrated model of Amazon rainforest productivity based on leaf biochemical properties

A simple ‘big leaf’ ecosystem gas exchange model was developed, using eddy covariance data collected at an undisturbed tropical rainforest in south-western Amazonia (Brazil). The model used mechanistic equations of canopy biochemistry combined with an empirical stomatal model describing responses to light, temperature and humidity. After calibration, the model was driven using hourly data from a weather station at the top of the tower at the measurement site, yielding an estimate of gross primary productivity (annual photosynthesis) in 1992/1993 of about 200 mol C m^?2 year ^?. Although incoming photon flux density emerged as the major control on photosynthesis in this forest, at a given PAR CO₂ assimilation rates were higher in the mornings than in the afternoons. This was attributable to stomatal closure in the afternoon in response to increasing canopy-to-air vapour pressure differences. Although most morning gas exchange was clearly limited by the rate of electron transport, afternoon gas exchange was generally observed to be very nearly co-limited by both Rubisco activity (V_max) and electron transport rate. The sensitivity of the model to changes in nitrogen allocation showed that the modelled ratio of V_max to electron transport (J_max) served nearly to maximize the annual carbon gain, and indeed, would have resulted in almost maximum annual carbon gain at the pre-industrial revolution atmospheric CO₂ concentration of 27 Pa. Modelled gross primary productivity (GPP) was somewhat lower at 27 Pa, being about 160 mol C m^?2 year^?1. The model suggests that, in the absence of any negative feedbacks on GPP, future higher concentrations of atmospheric CO₂ will continue to increase the GPP of this rainforest, up to about 230 mol C m^?2 year^?1 at 70 Pa.     

Xylem cavitation in two mature Scots pine forests growing in a wet and a dry area of Britain

The xylem cavitation rate, stem water content, stomatal conductance and leaf water potential of mature Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) were compared over a period of 18 months at two sites in Britain where trees were planted from the same seed source. The sites were at Thetford in south-east England, where the climate is relatively warm and dry (average rainfall of 600mm per year), and Aberfoyle in central Scotland, where it is relatively cool and wet (average rainfall of 1500 mm year^?1). In the first year of study (1992) the natural difference between the sites was amplified by a severe drought affecting south-east England. Acoustic emissions (as a result of cavitation) were detected at both sites, but were not an everyday occurrence, and rates depended on short-term meteorological variation. The relative water content (RWC) of the trunk at breast height at Thetford was significantly lower than at Aberfoyle, and declined in parallel with increasing severity of drought. Following the release from drought a gradual increase in RWC was found, but the pre-drought RWC was not attained. The same xylem water potential gradient and stomatal conductance was found at the two sites; but on a diurnal basis, as water potential declined, cavitation rates increased. There was no difference in vulnerability to cavitation or in hydraulic conductance between the sites.     

The use of eddy covariance to infer the net carbon dioxide uptake of Brazilian rain forest

• 1 Eddy covariance measurements of CO₂ flux, based on four and six week campaigns in Rondôdnia, Brazil, have been used in conjunction with a model to scale up data to a whole year, and thus estimate the carbon balance of the tropical forest ecosystem, and the changes in carbon balance expected from small interannual variations in climatological conditions.
• 2 One possible source of error in this estimation arises from the difficulty in measuring fluxes under stably stratified meteorological conditions, such as occur frequently at night. Flux may be ‘lost’ because of low velocity advection, caused by nocturnal radiative cooling at sites on raised ground. Such effects may be detected by plotting the net ecosystem flux of CO₂, F_eco is a function of wind speed. If flux is ‘lost’ then F_eco is expected to decline with wind speed. In the present data set, this did not occur, and F_eco was similar to the nocturnal flux estimated independently from chamber measurements.
• 3 The model suggests that in 1992/3, the Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) was 203.3 mol C m^?2 y^?1 and ecosystem respiration was 194.8 mol C m^?2 y^?1, giving an ecosystem carbon balance of 8.5 mol C m^?2 y^?1, equivalent to a sink of 1.0 ton C ha^?1 y^?1. However, the sign and magnitude of this figure is very sensitive to temperature, because of the strong influence of temperature on respiration.
• 4 The model also suggests that the effect of temperature on the net carbon balance is strongly dependent on the partial pressure of CO₂.