CO2 in leaves

Kathleen Archer Kathleen.Archer at
Fri Feb 26 12:46:58 EST 1999

Dear Colleagues,
I'm preparing a lecture for first year students on photorespiration and C4
carbon fixation.  I wanted to be able to tell the students what a typical
C3 leaf might experience as its internal CO2 concentration on a hot
afternoon when the stomata are closed.  I know the graphs that show
internal CO2 vs. CO2 assimilation rates in C3 and C4 plants - the kind of
thing every upper level plant phys book will have.  I know that in the lab
you can create different gas compositions and so on to generate these
graphs that carry the CO2 concentrations all the way down to zero.  

What I want to know is, what is the typical amount "in leafo" when stomata
are closed for C3 plants out there in the world?  In the non-lab setting
does the amount of CO2 inside a leaf really get down to zero?

Thanks for any info you can provide.
Kathleen Archer

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