The effect of elevated CO2 concentration and irradiation on quantitative parameters of mesophyll cells of Norway spruce

KUBÍNOVÁ, Zuzana. The effect of elevated CO2 concentration and irradiation on quantitative parameters of mesophyll cells of Norway spruce. Prague, 2010. 74 p. Master's degree thesis. Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague. Abstract The aim of the present thesis was to choose and adjust a suitable methodology for counting particles in 3D space, which would be suitable for unbiased estimation of chloroplast number in needle mesophyll cells. The disector method was used for the first time to determine the number of chloroplasts. This method enables unbiased estimation of chloroplast number in needle volume from optical sections captured from fresh free-hand sections by confocal microscope. The sections did not need any pre-processing. Another aim was to compare selected photosynthetic and anatomical characteristics of sun and shade Norway spruce needles, which were grown under different CO2 concentration. The trees were grown for eight years in ambient (during the experiment increasing from 357 up to 370 µmol CO2 ∙ mol-1 ) CO2 concentration or elevated (700 µmol ∙ mol-1 ) CO2 concentration in special glass domes on an experimental research site of the Institute of Systems Biology and Ecology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic at Bílý Kříž in Moravskoslezské Beskydy mountains. The sun needles..