Measuring chlorophyll a fluorescence

The LI-6800, when equipped with a chlorophyll fluorometer, is designed to measure two aspects of photosynthesis: 1) the light, or energy producing, reactions; and 2) the CO₂ assimilation, or energy consuming, reactions. Two different techniques are used to measure these very different reactions that occur at different points in the overall process of photosynthesis. Nonetheless, all of these reactions are biochemically connected. Consequently, unique and important information can be gleaned by assessing the combined information from the two aspects of photosynthesis. In this section, we describe how the LI-6800 probes the light reactions using chlorophyll fluorescence.