Light Harvesting Among Photosynthetic Organisms

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Abstract
1. Examination of light absorption by photosynthetic tissues of 156 specimens from 128 species of chlorophyll a containing photosynthetic organisms, ranging from single-celled cyanobacteria to trees, confirmed the existence of a universal law involving the asymptotic increase in light absorption with increasing chlorophyll a density. 2. The chlorophyll a concentration of photosynthetic tissues decreased as the tissues become thicker, thereby avoiding high areal chlorophyll a density and inefficient light absorption. Light absorption per unit photosynthetic tissue weight was strongly, linearly related to the chlorophyll a concentration, explaining the lower growth rates and higher light requirements of thick, compared to thin photosynthetic organisms and the dominance of thin photosynthetic organisms in shaded environments. 3. These results confirm the importance of the thickness of photosynthetic tissues as a major factor in light harvesting and photoadaptation, and help explain the strong dependence of plant growth on the thickness of the photosynthetic tissues.

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