Register      Login
Functional Plant Biology Functional Plant Biology Society
Plant function and evolutionary biology
REVIEW

Energy dissipation in C3 plants under drought

Jaume Flexas and Hipólito Medrano

Functional Plant Biology 29(10) 1209 - 1215
Published: 18 October 2002

Abstract

A general quantification of the relative contribution of different light energy dissipation processes to total dissipation under different drought conditions is lacking. Here we compare six studies, including enough data for such a general quantification, to build up a general pattern of the relative importance of several energy dissipation mechanisms in response to drought in C3 plants. Such a general pattern apparently emerges independently of specific acclimation to drought, but largely dependent on CO2 availability in the chloroplasts, which may be regulated under drought by adjustments in stomatal and mesophyll conductances. Under irrigation and saturating light, more than 50% of absorbed light is thermally dissipated, while photosynthesis dissipates 20–30% and photorespiration 10–20%. Under mild drought, the contribution of photosynthesis decreases, and that of photorespiration increases in a compensatory manner. During moderate to severe drought, the contribution of both photosynthesis and photorespiration decreases, and thermal dissipation increases up to 70–90% of the total light absorbed. The contribution of other processes, like the Mehler reaction, is shown to be very low under both irrigation and drought. Therefore, in C3 plants subjected to different degrees of drought, more than 90% of the total energy absorbed by leaves is dissipated by the sum of thermal dissipation, photorespiration and photosynthesis.

https://doi.org/10.1071/FP02015

© CSIRO 2002

Committee on Publication Ethics


Rent Article (via Deepdyve) Export Citation Cited By (160) Get Permission

View Dimensions

View Altmetrics