ArticlePhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2017
What limits photosynthetic energy conversion efficiency in nature? Lessons from the oceans.
Article in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed.
- Protonation-Enhanced Energy Transfer in Xanthorhodopsin Kin4B8.The journal of physical chemistry letters · 2025Article
- Sustained xanthophyll pigments-related photoprotective NPQ is involved in photoinhibition in the haptophyte Tisochrysis lutea.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Effects of Exogenous L-Asparagine on Poplar Biomass Partitioning and Root Morphology.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Phycobilisome light-harvesting efficiency in natural populations of the marine cyanobacteria Synechococcus increases with depth.Communications biology · 2022Article
- Toward predicting photosynthetic efficiency and biomass gain in crop genotypes over a field season.Plant physiology · 2022Article
- Exploring Variability ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
- A story of resilience: Arctic diatomFrontiers in plant science · 2022Article
- Article
- Photosynthetic energy conversion efficiency in the West Antarctic Peninsula.Limnology and oceanography · 2020Article
- Multiple interacting environmental drivers reduce the impact of solar UVR on primary productivity in Mediterranean lakes.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Photoacoustic and fluorescence lifetime imaging of diatoms.Photoacoustics · 2020Article
- The efficiency paradox: How wasteful competitors forge thrifty ecosystems.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2019Article
- Generalized size scaling of metabolic rates based on single-cell measurements with freshwater phytoplankton.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2019Article
- Editorial: The Responses of Marine Microorganisms, Communities and Ecofunctions to Environmental Gradients.Frontiers in microbiology · 2019Article
- Ion and metabolite transport in the chloroplast of algae: lessons from land plants.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2018Review
- Photosynthesis solutions to enhance productivity.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2017Article
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3 authors.
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Abstract
Constraining photosynthetic energy conversion efficiency in nature is challenging. In principle, two yield measurements must be made simultaneously: photochemistry, fluorescence and/or thermal dissipation. We constructed two different, extremely sensitive and precise active fluorometers: one measures the quantum yield of photochemistry from changes in variable fluorescence, the other measures fluorescence lifetimes in the picosecond time domain. By deploying the pair of instruments on eight transoceanic cruises over six years, we obtained over 200 000 measurements of fluorescence yields and lifetimes from surface waters in five ocean basins. Our results revealed that the average quantum yield of photochemistry was approximately 0.35 while the average quantum yield of fluorescence was approximately 0.07. Thus, closure on the energy budget suggests that, on average, approximately 58% of the photons absorbed by phytoplankton in the world oceans are dissipated as heat. This extraordinary inefficiency is associated with the paucity of nutrients in the upper ocean, especially dissolved inorganic nitrogen and iron. Our results strongly suggest that, in nature, most of the time, most of the phytoplankton community operates at approximately half of its maximal photosynthetic energy conversion efficiency because nutrients limit the synthesis or function of essential components in the photosynthetic apparatus.This article is part of the themed issue 'Enhancing photosynthesis in crop plants: targets for improvement'.
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