Chlorophyll fluorescence in the leaves of Tradescantia species of different ecological groups: Induction events at different intensities of actinic light

Chlorophyll fluorescence analysis is one of the most convenient and widespread techniques used to monitor photosynthesis performance in plants. In this work, after a brief overview of the mechanisms of regulation of photosynthetic electron transport and protection of photosynthetic apparatus against photodamage, we describe results of our study of the effects of actinic light intensity on photosynthetic performance in Tradescantia species of different ecological groups. Using the chlorophyll fluorescence as a probe of photosynthetic activity, we have found that the shade-tolerant species Tradescantia fluminensis shows a higher sensitivity to short-term illumination (≤20 min) with low and moderate light (≤200 μE m−2 s−1) as compared with the light-resistant species Tradescantia sillamontana. In T. fluminensis, non-photochemical quenching of chlorophyll fluorescence (NPQ) and photosystem II operational efficiency (parameter ΦPSII) saturate as soon as actinic light reaches ≈200 μE m−2 s−1. Otherwise, T. sillamontana revealed a higher capacity for NPQ at strong light (≥800 μE m−2 s−1). The post-illumination adaptation of shade-tolerant plants occurs slower than in the light-resistant species. The data obtained are discussed in terms of reactivity of photosynthetic apparatus to short-term variations of the environment light.