A Persistent Diurnal Rhythm in Photosynthetic Capacity

IN 1939, Meyer 1 discovered a daily rhythm in the rate of photosynthesis in Ceratophyllum , a fresh-water angiosperm. In 1957, similar rhythms were found in natural populations of marine phytoplankton 2,3 . Four years later, Hastings et al. 4 , working on the photosynthetic-capacity rhythm in the ma...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1964-09, Vol.203 (4949), p.1087-1088
Main Authors: PALMER, JOHN D, LIVINGSTON, LAURA, ZUSY, FR. DENNIS
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Circadian Rhythm
Humanities and Social Sciences
letter
Marine Biology
multidisciplinary
Old Medline
Periodicity
Photosynthesis
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
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Summary:IN 1939, Meyer 1 discovered a daily rhythm in the rate of photosynthesis in Ceratophyllum , a fresh-water angiosperm. In 1957, similar rhythms were found in natural populations of marine phytoplankton 2,3 . Four years later, Hastings et al. 4 , working on the photosynthetic-capacity rhythm in the marine dinoflagellate Gonyaulax , demonstrated that these rhythms would persist for a few days in the laboratory in the absence of day–night environmental cycles, that is, in continuous dim illumination and constant temperature. Negative evidence was presented by Blinks and Givan 5 , who performed experiments which suggested the absence of photosynthetic rhythms in 13 species of marine littoral algae. In view of the different results, we have undertaken comparative investigations in an attempt to establish the distribution of persistent rhythms in marine flora.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/2031087a0