This project examines whether there is a direct link between respiration and the rate of senescence of fresh produce. Treatments that increase the storage life of fresh products, such as cooling, modified atmospheres and semi-permeable coatings, often decrease respiration rates. This suggests that it may be possible to assess the effectiveness of a specific storage treatment in terms of its effect on reducing respiration. If this is so, total respiration during storage should sum to a constant regardless of changes in the storage conditions. Such an equivalence between 'respiration life' and storage life has been demonstrated in only a few cases. Respiration data from a wide range of published work was analysed from the viewpoint of testing this hypothesis. In general, the results were positive, with some reservations that were further investigated by experiment. In conclusion, respiration rate may be a guide to storage life for products that have clearly defined stages of senescence, and for which rots are not the primary cause of the end of acceptability. The development of the respirometer should make it possible to examine this relationship for many other commodities. However, while respiration may be a function of the rate of senescence under some circumstances, it is also affected by other factors. These include photosynthesis, attachment to the plant, and permeance to gases. Directions for future work therefore include the contribution of photosynthesis to fruit development, the effects of ethylene on respiration rates of non-climacteric fruit while attached to the plant, and interactions between ethylene synthesis and disease resistance / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)