Barley protoplasts were shown to be a suitable experimental system for studies on the relative maximum during the decay of luminescence observed in most photosynthetic systems after excitation with far red light and in the presence of O2. The far red induced relative luminescence maximum was shown to be a result of three coinciding events: *Randomization of the S-states of the water splitting system during illumination with far red light. *Extreme oxidation of the PSII acceptor side after excitation with far red light and in the presence of O2. *Reverse coupling, causing partial re-reduction of the PSII acceptor side in the dark after far red illumination. When the CO2 concentration in the air above an intact barley leaf was lowered in the dark, the primary PSII acceptor QA was partially reduced. The effect was obtained by changes in CO2 over a wide concentration range including that of saturated photosynthesis. It was thus concluded that the effect was not related to the role of CO2 as the terminal electron acceptor in photosynthesis. White light induced relative maxima during the decay of luminescence frqm low CO2 adapted green algae were shown to be the result of either one or two interacting mechanisms: *Relaxation of qE quenching. *Dark reduction of QA occuring as a result of lowered internal Cj concentration in the dark. Far red induced luminescence decay kinetics and fluorescence induction kinetics, when analyzed with multivariat data analysis, were shown to contain information allowing prediction of the state of frost hardiness in artificially hardened seedlings of Scots pine. / <p>Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Umeå universitet, 1988, härtill 8 uppsatser.</p> / digitalisering@umu

Red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) is the only tree in British Columbia and the Northwest US to engage in actinorhizal symbiosis to fix atmospheric nitrogen. This study was conducted to explore the plasticity in growth and physiology among 58 17-year-old red alder families in response to variation in climate in two common garden plots, one at Bowser, BC and one at Terrace, BC. Physiological assessments included height and diameter growth, bud flush, water use efficiency as measured by δ13C, cold hardiness as measured by controlled freezing and electrolyte leakage, autumn leaf senescence, and instantaneous and seasonally integrated rates of nitrogen fixation as measured by acetylene reduction and natural abundance δ15N isotope analysis, respectively. Significant differences were identified among families for growth (height and diameter), bud burst stage, leaf senescence, cold hardiness, and bud nitrogen content. No significant differences among families were identified for water use efficiency as measured by δ13C, or for rates of nitrogen fixation as measured by either acetylene reduction or natural abundance δ15N. This study identified possible adaptive differences among red alder genotypes, especially in traits such as bud flush timing, cold hardiness, or nitrogen fixation and their respective contributions to growth. These differences often reflected a tradeoff between growth and the ability to tolerate an extreme environment. Cold hardiness results indicate that red alder families are well adapted to their climate of origin, and may not be able to acclimate sufficiently to a northward assisted migration of genotypes. Nitrogen fixation results demonstrated gaps in our current knowledge of Frankia distribution and impact on the actinorhizal symbiosis in British Columbia. / Graduate