VARIATIONS on the PHOTOSYNTHETIC THEME evolutionary and ecological patterns

C3 vs C4 vs CAM psyn Who where and when? And what benefits? Myth of neat categories The conundrum of CO2 entry and H2O loss loss

Recap on C3 photosynthesis
Most common metabolism Light and dark reactions happen during day Light (thylakoid) Dark (stroma) CO2 and O2 compete for RubisCO, resulting in energetic loss
1. 3. 4.

C4 PSYN: Separation of CO2 fix step and Calvin Cycle (RubisCO) RubisCO)

2. 6.

5.

7. respiration

RubisCO packed inside BSC, no O2 there, so NO PHOTORESPIRATION

C4 plants have special anatomy: Kranz Anatomy

Photosynthesis in C4 plants is optimal at higher temps

Amax for C4 is higher at high light than C3

Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM)

CO2 fix step separated in TIME (day vs. night) Water conservation strategy in succulent, epiphyte plants

Some plants are FACULTATIVE CAM

- can Turn off or Turn on CAM depending on environmental cues

EPIPHYTES Common in tropical forests, and in temperate rainforests as well Canopy a surprisingly dry environment (patchy); CAM a good adaptation to dry spells (some are even facultative CAM plants)

Distribution of C4 grass species as a % of total grass flora

Phylogeny and evolution of C3, C4, CAM

C4 and CAM have arisen multiple times independently through the course of evolution C4 plants do not fare well in the cold C4 grasses are dominant where summers hot and adequate summer H2O however, photosynthetic type is only one of many factors that determine how a plant responds to its environment Theory about C4 evolving during times of low atmos. CO2 (makes sense, bc C4 is a CO2-concentrating mechanism) Interesting hypothesis, no way to test it but well correlated with the fossil record!

Phylogeny and evolution of C3, C4, CAM

Stable Isotopes 12C vs 13C Radioisotope = 14C

How do we know when Native Americans started to rely on maize for their diet?

~ Poaceae (grass) are C4 Global crops! (rice, wheat, corn) Other families where C4 common: Euphorbaceae, Amaranthacae although all of these families have C3 too, and some intermediates

By measuring the ratio of 12C:13C in the carbon in their bones, and comparing this to the ISOTOPIC RATIO of Corn, and the ISOTOPIC RATIO of C3 foods.

Flaveria linearis (Asteraceae) is a spp with intermediate C3-C4 pathway C4

CAM C3

Competition between C3 and C4 plants?

Psyn of C3 plants increases (+) in elev. CO2 conditions but C4 plants insensitive to increases in elev. CO2