Respiration in plants, as in all living organisms, is essential to provide metabolic energy and carbon skeletons for growth and maintenance. As such, respiration is an essential component of a plant’s carbon budget. Depending on species and environmental conditions, it consumes 25-75% of all the carbohydrates produced in photosynthesis – even more at extremely slow growth rates. Respiration in plants can also proceed in a manner that produces neither metabolic energy nor carbon skeletons, but heat. This type of respiration involves the cyanide-resistant, alternative oxidase; it is unique to plants, and resides in the mitochondria. The activity of this alternative pathway can be measured based on a difference in fractionation of oxygen isotopes between the cytochrome and the alternative oxidase. Heat production is important in some flowers to attract pollinators; however, the alternative oxidase also plays a major role in leaves and roots of most plants. A common thread throughout this volume is to link respiration, including alternative oxidase activity, to plant functioning in different environments.
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Regulation of Respiration In Vivo.- Calorespirometry in Plant Biology.- The Application of the Oxygen-Isotope Technique to Assess Respiratory Pathway Partitioning.- Respiration in Photosynthetic Cells: Gas Exchange Components, Interactions with Photorespiration and the Operation of Mitochondria in the Light.- Effects of Light Intensity and Carbohydrate Status on Leaf and Root Respiration.- The Effects of Water Stress on Plant Respiration.- Response of Plant Respiration to Changes in Temperature: Mechanisms and Consequences of Variations in Q10 Values and Acclimation.- Oxygen Transport, Respiration, and Anaerobic Carbohydrate Catabolism in Roots in Flooded Soils.- Effects of Soil p H and Aluminum on Plant Respiration.- Understanding Plant Respiration: Separating Respiratory Components versus a Process-Based Approach.- Respiratory/Carbon Costs of Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Legumes.- Respiratory Costs of Mycorrhizal Associations.- Integrated Effects of Atmospheric CO2 Concentration on Plant and Ecosystem Respiration.