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Physiological Plant Ecology I pp 41–55Cite as

Photosynthetically Active Radiation

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Part of the Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology book series (920,volume 12 / A)

Abstract

It is well known that plants vary in the sensitivity of the photosynthetic apparatus to radiation of different wavelengths (Rabinowitch 1951). This would seem to eliminate any possibility of a unique definition of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) for use in ecophysiology. Gabrielsen (1960), in his review of photosynthetic action spectra for the original edition of this encyclopedia, gave two basic reasons why this is not so: the variations in spectral response become important only when (1) the spectrum of the radiation is changing, and (2) the photosynthetic rate is limited by the amount of radiation available.

Keywords

  • Photosynthetic Rate
  • Photosynthetically Active Radiation
  • Active Radiation
  • Action Spectrum
  • Spectral Irradiance

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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Authors
  1. K. J. McCree
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Lehrstuhl für Botanik II der Universität, Mittlerer Dallenbergweg 64, 8700, Würzburg, Germany

    Professor Dr. O. L. Lange

  2. Department of Biology Division of Environmental Biology of the Laboratory of Biomedical and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California, 90024, USA

    Professor P. S. Nobel

  3. Department of Environmental Biology Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University, Box 475, 2601, Canberra City, Australia

    Professor C. B. Osmond

  4. Institut für Botanik und Mikrobiologie der Technischen Universität, Arcisstraße 21, 8000, München 2, Germany

    Professor Dr. H. Ziegler

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© 1981 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg

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McCree, K.J. (1981). Photosynthetically Active Radiation. In: Lange, O.L., Nobel, P.S., Osmond, C.B., Ziegler, H. (eds) Physiological Plant Ecology I. Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology, vol 12 / A. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-68090-8_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-68090-8_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-68092-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-68090-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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