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Fraction of sun light intensity that leads to saturation of photosynthesis

Value	16 %
Organism	Microalgae
Reference	Anastasios Melis, Solar energy conversion efficiencies in photosynthesis: Minimizing the chlorophyll antennae to maximize efficiency, Plant Science Volume 177, Issue 4, October 2009, Pages 272-280 doi:10.1016/j.plantsci.2009.06.005 p.273 fig. 1, left column bottom line and right column top paragraph
Method	400µmol photons m^-2 s^-1/2500µmol photons m^-2 s^-1=0.16 (see comments section)
Comments	saturation of photosynthesis is reached at ~400µmol photons m^-2 s^-1. Since incident intensities of sunlight can reach up to 2500 µmolphotons m^-2 s^-1, it may be concluded that more than 80% of absorbed solar irradiance would be wasted in the photosynthetic apparatus during the course of a sunny day.
Entered by	Uri M
ID	106362