Ecological Survey Measurements

Ecological survey measurements are snapshots of photosynthesis, transpiration, stomatal conductance, or other measures that can be useful to explore many research questions. For some applications of leaf gas exchange, it may be necessary to take many readings in order to obtain a reliable mean value. Many readings may be necessary to determine an accurate average for: a particular species, a particular height within a plant canopy (understory versus overstory), an ecological transect, a plant treatment, or to compare different genetic material under a fixed set of environmental conditions such as light, CO₂, humidity, and temperature. The objective may be to look at variations in light-saturated rates of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance, or to compare sub-stomatal CO₂ concentrations. For these survey types of applications, the LI-6400XT can be configured so that researchers can rapidly take many snapshot readings (click here to see example data) under a precise and repeatable set of environmental conditions, such that differences in gas exchange parameters can be measured without the confounding effects of fluctuating chamber environmental variables (light, CO₂, humidity, temperature).

LI-COR's Solution for Ecological Surveys:

The LI-6400XT Portable Photosynthesis System

The LI-6400XT system is a compact, rugged, field portable instrument able to provide researchers with detailed information on plant responses such as CO₂ assimilation rates, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO₂ concentrations, carboxylation and light use efficiencies, and CO₂ and light compensation points.