Researchers built a streamlined mathematical framework that distills how efficiently a plant leaf captures CO2 down to just two key parameters, revealing which biological bottlenecks most limit photosynthesis across different species. This tool helps scientists quickly identify whether a plant's carbon-fixing performance is held back by its pores, its internal air spaces, or its cellular chemistry.
1
CO2 fixation across diverse plant species can be reduced to just two key parameters that define three distinct rate-limiting regimes: stomatal uptake, intercellular diffusion, and intracellular processes.
2
Most species studied show dominant co-limitation by both stomatal and intracellular processes simultaneously, rather than a single clear bottleneck.
3
Approximately half of species require spatially resolved leaf-scale models to accurately describe their photosynthesis, while the other half can be adequately captured by simpler intracellular-only models.
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