Chlorophyll fluorescence as a tool in field and lab photosynthesis research: From eco-physiology to molecular biology : Central-European Conference on Biophysical and Biochemical Methods in Photosynthesis Research (“Photosynthesis and Stress”), 15-16 September 2005, Brno, Czech Republic
Since about 20 years we are sampling chlorophyll fluorescence data in the field. The goal to be achieved was a data set well correlated with changes in the metabolic reactions of plants understood as a response to the growing conditions at the site. The first analyses of these data clearly showed, that PS II fluorescence will become a sensitive indicator of stress. Low temperatures combined with high light intensities ("photo-chilling") were found to be one of the most effective stress factors to influence the chlorophyll fluorescence signal. In contrast, moderate drought only creates small effects, whereas the impressive changes induced in strong sun light at noon frequently vanished in the course of a few minutes when exposed to dim light. On one hand, these findings need further interpretation e.g. using data from "Proteomics" and on the other hand implications at the canopy level have to be clarified.
