John R. Evans

TL;DR: Surviving in certain environments clearly does not require maximising photosynthetic capacity for a given leaf nitrogen content, as variation reflects different strategies of nitrogen partitioning, the electron transport capacity per unit of chlorophyll and the specific activity of RuBP carboxylase.

TL;DR: Changes in specific leaf area (SLA, projected leaf area per unit leaf dry mass) and nitrogen partitioning between proteins within leaves occur during the acclimation of plants to their growth irradiance, and the relative importance of both of these changes in maximizing carbon gain is quantified.

TL;DR: Wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv Yecora 70) plants were grown with various concentrations of nitrate nitrogen available to the roots and rates of gas exchange, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuP(2)) carboxylase activity, and the amounts of chlorophyll, soluble protein, nitrogen, and phosphorus were determined for each flag leaf.

TL;DR: Despite uncertainties about various processes affecting carbon isotope composition, the resistance to the transfer of CO2 from the intercellular airspaces to the sites of carboxylation in the mesophyll chloroplasts was estimated and is consistent with, and provides the first direct experimental support for, theoretical equations describing discrimination during photosynthesis.

TL;DR: Differences between species in organic leaf nitrogen content per se were no longer important and higher PNUEmax of the high SLA species was due to a higher fraction of N in␣photosynthetic compounds and a higher Rubisco specific activity (for high-light grown plants).