E. Naumburg et al., Modeling dynamic understory photosynthesis of contrasting species in ambient and elevated carbon dioxide, OECOLOGIA, 126(4), 2001, pp. 487-499
Dynamic responses of understory plants to sunflecks have been extensively s
tudied, but how much differences in dynamic light responses affect daily ph
otosynthesis (A(day)) is still the subject of active research. Recent model
s of dynamic photosynthesis have provided a quantitative tool that allows t
he critical assessment of the importance of these sunfleck responses on A(d
ay). Here we used a dynamic photosynthesis model to assess differences in f
our species that were growing in ambient and elevated CO2. We hypothesized
that Liriodendron tulipifera, a species with rapid photosynthetic induction
gain and slow induction loss, would have the least limitations to sunfleck
photosynthesis relative to the other three species (Acer rubrum, Cornus fl
orida, Liquidambar styraciflua). As a consequence, L. tulipifera should hav
e the highest A(day) in an understory environment, despite being the least
shade tolerant of the species tested. We further hypothesized that daily ph
otosynthetic enhancement by elevated CO2 would differ from enhancement leve
ls observed during light-saturated, steady-state measurements. Both hypothe
ses were supported by the model results under conditions of low daily photo
synthetic photon flux density (PFD: <3% of the above-canopy PFD). However,
under moderate PFD (10-20% of the above-canopy PFD), differences in dynamic
sunfleck responses had no direct impact on A(day) for any of the species,
since stomatal and photosynthetic induction limitations to sunfleck photosy
nthesis were small. Thus, the relative species ranking in A(day) under mode
rate PFD closely matched their rankings in steady-state measurements of lig
ht-saturated photosynthesis. Similarly, under elevated CO2, enhancement of
modeled A(day) over A(day) at ambient CO2 matched the enhancement measured
under light saturation. Thus, the effects of species-specific differences i
n dynamic sunfleck responses, and differences in elevated CO2 responses of
daily photosynthesis, are most important in marginal light environments.