Physiological Aspects of Photosynthesis–Respiration Interrelations

Resumo

The review discusses up-to-date concepts of interrelations between photosynthesis and respiration. It considers the quantitative ratio of the processes in the leaf and that in the whole plant reported by Russian and other researches. Special attention is paid to performance of dark respiration in the light and to the methods of its exploration, which employ classical gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, and carbon isotopes. Possible causes of conservatism and variability in the total respiration to gross photosynthesis ratio under stationary and stress conditions are also discussed along with prospects in further investigations.