Abstract
Photosynthetic rates vary depending on growth conditions, even within species. Remote sensing techniques have a great potential to predict the photosynthetic rates of leaves with different characteristics. Here, we demonstrate that the photosynthetic rates of leaves acclimated to different light and nutrient conditions can be estimated based on the chlorophyll fluorescence (ChlF), the photochemical reflectance index (PRI), and a chlorophyll index. Chenopodium album plants were grown under different light and nutrient conditions. PRI, ChlF parameters, and CO2/H2O gas exchange rates of leaves were simultaneously determined under the various light and CO2 conditions. PRI was used to assess non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), but the relationship between NPQ and PRI was weakened when the data on leaves grown under different conditions were pooled, because PRI in darkness (\(\text {PRI}_0\)) changed with the leaf pigment composition. Among 15 pigment indices, we found that \(\text {NDVI}_\text {green}\), a reflectance index related to the leaf chlorophyll content, had the best correlation with \(\text {PRI}_0\) (\(r^2=0.89\)) across the studied leaves, and the correction of PRI by \(\text {NDVI}_\text {green}\) improved the predictability of NPQ (\(r^2=0.82\)). Using the steady-state ChlF, the NPQ estimated from PRI and \(\text {NDVI}_\text {green}\), and the stomatal conductance coefficient, we calculated the CO2 assimilation rates, which were strongly correlated with the actual rates (RMSE = 4.85 \(\mu\)mol m\(^{-2}\) s\(^{-1}\)), irrespective of growth conditions. Our approach has the potential to contribute to a more accurate estimation of photosynthetic rates in remote sensing. However, further studies on species variations and connecting with radiative transfer models are needed to demonstrate this at the canopy scale.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Tetsu Ogawa, Dr. Tomomichi Kato, and Dr. Hibiki M. Noda for setting up the measurement system. We are grateful to Yukiko Nakamura for the helpful advice on the analysis. This study was partly supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI (No. 17J05444) to KT and by JSPS KAKENHI (Nos. 18H03350, 17H03727, and 25660113). It was also partly supported by the NIES GOSAT-2 Project, the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (2-1903) of the Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency of Japan, and a research grant from Sony Imaging Products & Solutions Inc to KH.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by KT. The first draft of the manuscript was written by KT and KH commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Tsujimoto, K., Hikosaka, K. Estimating leaf photosynthesis of C3 plants grown under different environments from pigment index, photochemical reflectance index, and chlorophyll fluorescence. Photosynth Res 148, 33–46 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-021-00833-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-021-00833-3