| Abstract: | Abstract— Intact leaves of Commelina communis irradiated with high fluence rates of red light, showed discrete increases in stomatal conductance in response to pulses (1-100 s) of blue light (250 μmol m?2 s?1). Red light pulses were ineffective, indicating that the conductance increases were not mediated by photosynthesis and that they constitute a specific stomatal response to blue light. The response peaked 15 min after the pulse and was completed within50–60 min. Conductance increases were proportional to pulse duration up to about 30 s and saturated at longer exposures. The relationship between stomatal responses and pulse duration approximately fitted an exponential function, with a t 9s. Pulse responses at two different fluences indicated that reciprocity held. Responses to two consecutive pulses varied with time between pulses. A saturating pulse applied immediately after a preceding one induced no additional response; two saturating pulses 50 min apart caused two identical, consecutive responses. Total increases in conductance induced by two pulses separated by intermediate time intervals increased with time between pulses with a = 9 min. These results point to a blue light-dependent photoconversion of a molecular form, with the activity of the photoconversion product decaying in a thermal reaction. Under continuous blue light, prevailing fluence rates and rates of the light and thermal reactions are postulated to determine steady-state activities of the photoconversion product and proportional increases in conductance levels. These findings have implications for the environmental and metabolic roles of the stomatal response to blue light. |
