Effect of Gibberellin on Growth, Flowering and Fruiting of the Earlypak Tomato, Lycopersicum Esculentum.

Abstract

Physiology and ecology are defined and a bridge is cast between the two disciplines. Physiology requires consideration of the various parts of plant organisms and their functions which are grouped into biochemical functions of dissimilation, assimilation, synthesis of macromolecules and specific natural products, and developmental functions of growth, differentiation, and orientation in space. Functions are organized into complex signaling and regulation networks. Ecology requires consideration of all conditions of the existence of organisms. The important external control parameters are grouped into abiotic and biotic environmental factors. Factors are interacting in functional networks of physiological ecology. The physiology-ecology relations are illustrated for the case of photosynthesis. Structures and functions involved in photosynthesis span about 15-16 and about 32 orders of magnitude in space and in time, respectively. The major environmental control parameters determining the physiological ecology of photosynthesis are hydraulic limitations and high irradiance which acting together may cause overenergization of the photosynthetic apparatus, formation of reactive oxygen species, and oxidative stress. Different photosynthetic physiotypes, C3 and C4 photosynthesis and Crassulacean acid metabolism are equipped in different ways to deal with such stress. Miniaturized equipment for measuring photosynthesis allows advancing physiological ecology of photosynthesis from autecology to synecology.