Quantifying abiotic stress of plants - advantages and disadvantages of chlorophyll fluorescence / Quantificação do estresse abiótico em plantas - vantagens e desvantagens da fluorescência da clorofila

Abstract

Fluorescence analysis has become a powerful and widely used technique among plant physiologists and ecophysiologists because its measurement bears a relationship to photosynthesis. Therefore, chlorophyll fluorescence (CF) measurements have become a method to study the functioning of the photosynthetic apparatus in response to environmental stress. Light absorbed by plants that does not drive the production of carbohydrates is dissipated as heat or re-emitted as light in the form of fluorescence. Every environmental factor deviating from the optimum constitutes a stress to plants. Consequently, any stress that affects the function of photosystem II and associated de-excitation pathways will have an effect on chlorophyll fluorescence. Measuring CF assesses the efficiency of both photochemistry and non-photochemical processes. This review uses published examples from the literature to discuss advantages and limitations of leaf chlorophyll fluorescence of photosystem II measurements to quantify and to discriminate the effects of various abiotic stresses upon plant growth and development.