CO2 and O2 dynamics in leaves of aquatic plants with C3 or CAM photosynthesis - application of a novel CO2 microsensor (original) (raw)

Leaf tissue CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) shows contrasting dynamics over a diurnal cycle in C3 and Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) plants. However, simultaneous and continuous monitoring of pCO2 and pO2 in C3 and CAM plants under the same conditions was lacking. Our aim was to use a new CO2 microsensor and an existing O2 microsensor for non-destructive measurements of leaf pCO2 and pO2 dynamics to compare a C3 and a CAM plant in an aquatic environment. A new amperometric CO2 microsensor and an O2 microsensor elucidated with high temporal resolution the dynamics in leaf pCO2 and pO2 during light-dark cycles for C3 Lobelia dortmanna and CAM Littorella uniflora aquatic plants. Underwater photosynthesis, dark respiration, tissue malate concentrations and sediment CO2 and O2 were also measured. During the dark period, for the C3 plant, pCO2 increased to approx. 3.5 kPa, whereas for the CAM plant CO2 was mostly below 0.05 kPa owing to CO2 sequestration into malate. Upon darkness, the CA...