Light and photosynthesis in seagrass meadows

Abstract

The distribution of radiant energy in plant canopies determines one of the fundamental interactions of biophysical ecology-that of energy exchange between photosynthetic organisms and their environment. Accurate knowledge of light absorption by plant canopies permits the calculation of important plant and ecosystem-level properties, including rates of primary production, which will be the focus of this chapter. Knowledge of the interaction between light and plant canopies is also crucial for remote sensing, quantification of vegetation abundance and distribution, as well as for the development of inversion, techniques to infer plant chemical composition, important for ecosystem-scale estimates of plant growth and biogeochemical fluxes (Jacquemoud et al., 1996; Lacapra et al., 1996; Broge and Leblanc, 2000). Submerged aquatic vegetation, including seagrass beds, provide a strong optical signature that can be tracked using satellite and airborne remote sensing (Armstrong, 1993; Mumby et al., 1997; Chauvaud et al., 2001; Dierssen et al., 2003), and this will be the subject of Dekker et al., Chapter 15. © 2006/2007 Springer. All Rights Reserved.