Summary and Future Perspectives

Although adaptations in the photosynthetic process occur across the hierarchy of botanical organization, evolutionary change by natural selection acts only on the organism, within the framework of the population. However, selective pressure for specific organism traits can be generated at higher levels of organization and complexity due to emerging constraints on resource acquisition (Chapter 1, Fig. 1.1). It is also important to understand that upscale adaptations may provide the selective pressure for downscale adaptations that will be complementary. As demonstrated in the preceding chapters, evidence for adaptations in photosynthesis continue to emerge at higher levels of the structural/spatial hierarchy, and may often be accompanied by corresponding metabolic changes at the cell and chloroplast level. However, these metabolic, biochemical traits may be more highly conserved compared with those governing diversity in form.

[1]  P. Nobel,et al.  Temperature, water, and PAR influences on predicted and measured productivity of Agave deserti at various elevations , 2004, Oecologia.

[2]  F. Meinzer.  Functional convergence in plant responses to the environment , 2002, Oecologia.

[3]  C. Allen,et al.  Drought-induced shift of a forest-woodland ecotone: rapid landscape response to climate variation. , 1998, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[4]  Rebecca A Montgomery,et al.  Adaptive radiation of photosynthetic physiology in the Hawaiian lobeliads: light regimes, static light responses, and whole-plant compensation points. , 2004, American journal of botany.

[5]  R. Monson,et al.  Waking the Sleeping Giant: The Evolutionary Foundations of Plant Function , 2003, International Journal of Plant Sciences.

[6]  Ernst-Detlef Schulze,et al.  Ecophysiology of Photosynthesis , 1995, Springer Study Edition.

[7]  William K. Smith,et al.  Radiation frost susceptibility and the association between sky exposure and leaf size , 1995, Oecologia.

[8]  M. Geber,et al.  Inheritance and Natural Selection on Functional Traits , 2003, International Journal of Plant Sciences.

[9]  Nigel J. Livingston,et al.  On the need to incorporate sensitivity to CO2 transfer conductance into the Farquhar–von Caemmerer–Berry leaf photosynthesis model , 2004 .

[10]  S. A. Dudley.  DIFFERING SELECTION ON PLANT PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS IN RESPONSE TO ENVIRONMENTAL WATER AVAILABILITY: A TEST OF ADAPTIVE HYPOTHESES , 1996, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[11]  James R. Ehleringer,et al.  Carbon and Water Relations in Desert Plants: An Isotopic Perspective , 1993 .

[12]  W. Smith,et al.  Simulated influence of leaf geometry on sunlight interception and photosynthesis in conifer needles. , 1993, Tree Physiology.

[13]  C. Brewer,et al.  The Adaptive Importance of Shoot and Crown Architecture in Conifer Trees , 1994, The American Naturalist.

[14]  David T. Bell,et al.  Leaf Form and Photosynthesis , 1997 .

[15]  M. Germino,et al.  Sky exposure, crown architecture, and low‐temperature photoinhibition in conifer seedlings at alpine treeline , 1999 .

[16]  P. Nobel,et al.  Modeling of PAR Interception and Productivity of a Prickly Pear Cactus, Opuntia ficus-indica L., at Various Spacings 1 , 1986 .

[17]  R. O'Neill.  A Hierarchical Concept of Ecosystems. , 1986 .

[18]  Park S. Nobel,et al.  Environmental Biology of Agaves and Cacti , 1988 .

[19]  S. A. Dudley.  THE RESPONSE TO DIFFERING SELECTION ON PLANT PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS: EVIDENCE FOR LOCAL ADAPTATION , 1996, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[20]  N. Anten,et al.  Shoot structure,leaf physiology, and daily carbon gain of plant species in a tallgrass meadow , 2003 .

[21]  T. Dawson,et al.  The Ancestral Ecology of Angiosperms: Emerging Perspectives from Extant Basal Lineages , 2003, International Journal of Plant Sciences.

[22]  Ülo Niinemets,et al.  Research review. Components of leaf dry mass per area – thickness and density – alter leaf photosynthetic capacity in reverse directions in woody plants , 1999 .

[23]  J. Ehleringer,et al.  Carbon isotope discrimination, water-use efficiency, growth, and mortality in a natural shrub population , 1994, Oecologia.

[24]  M. Germino,et al.  High resistance to low‐temperature photoinhibition in two alpine, snowbank species , 2000 .

[25]  P. Nobel,et al.  LEAF ORIENTATION, RADIATION INTERCEPTION, AND NOCTURNAL ACIDITY INCREASES BY THE CAM PLANT AGAVE DESERTI (AGAVACEAE) , 1980 .

[26]  W. Smith,et al.  Associations between leaf structure, orientation, and sunlight exposure in five Western Australian communities. , 1998, American journal of botany.

[27]  P. Nobel,et al.  Gas exchange and metabolite fluctuations in green and yellow bands of variegated leaves of the monocotyledonous CAM species Agave americana , 1998 .

[28]  P. Reich,et al.  The Evolution of Plant Functional Variation: Traits, Spectra, and Strategies , 2003, International Journal of Plant Sciences.

[29]  P. Nobel,et al.  Light, chlorophyll, carboxylase activity and CO2 fixation at various depths in the chlorenchyma of Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Miller under current and elevated CO2. , 1994, The New phytologist.

[30]  W. Smith,et al.  Relation between Mesophyll Surface Area, Photosynthetic Rate, and Illumination Level during Development for Leaves of Plectranthus parviflorus Henckel. , 1975, Plant physiology.

[31]  O. Björkman.  Responses to Different Quantum Flux Densities , 1981 .

[32]  Thomas B. Starr,et al.  Hierarchy: Perspectives for Ecological Complexity , 1982 .

[33]  T. F. H. Allen,et al.  The confusion between scale‐defined levels and conventional levels of organization in ecology , 1990 .

[34]  R. Sage.  Environmental and Evolutionary Preconditions for the Origin and Diversification of the C4 Photosynthetic Syndrome , 2001 .

[35]  C. Field,et al.  The use of CO2 flux measurements in models of the global terrestrial carbon budget , 1996 .