Princeton Environmental Institute

Bender Lab,Department of GeosciencesPrinceton University

Natalie SaenzAdvisors: Dr. Paul GauthierProf. Michael Bender

Shedding Light on Plant Respiration

Introduction

Bringing the Kok effect to light: A review on the integration of daytime respiration and net ecosystem exchange. (2013)M. Heskel, O. Atkin, M. Turnbull, K. Griffin

Plant Metabolism: Respiration

Methods Stable Isotope Analyses

Results

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700-2

2

6

10

14

-0.008

-0.006

-0.004

-0.002

0

C1: Carbon Assimi-lation and d13C light response

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

-4-202468

1012

00.0050.010.0150.020.0250.030.0350.04

C6: Carbon Assimilation and d13C light response

C Assimilationd13C

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700-2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

-0.014

-0.012

-0.01

-0.008

-0.006

-0.004

-0.002

0

Control: Carbon Assimilation and d13C light response

C Assimilationd13C

ConclusionThe Kok effect does have a metabolic basis most likely linked to cellular respiration inhibition in the light

Many thanks to Prof. Michael Bender and Dr. Paul Gauthier for their guidance, support, patience, and mentoring

PEI for making the summer internship possible

Acknowledgements