Fluorescence ratio and photochemical reflectance index as a proxy for photosynthetic quantum efficiency of photosystem II along a phosphorus gradient

Sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) is one of the most promising remote-sensing signals to assess spatio-temporal variation in photosynthesis. Yet, it has been shown that the positive linear relationship of SIF and photosynthesis, often reported from satellite and proximal remote sensing, is mainly driven by the amount of absorbed photosynthetic active radiation (APAR). By normalizing SIF by APAR these structural first-order effects can accounted for and SIF is then reflecting physiological regulation of photosynthetic efficiency. However, because of the confounding contribution of non-photochemical energy dissipation, the relationship between SIF and photosynthetic efficiency is non-linear, and therefore additional measurements have to be included to constrain the predictions of photosynthetic efficiency and photosynthetic electron transport