Photosynthesis

Video: What Plants See…Changes How They Grow

Meet the WSU Researcher: Michael Neff

Part 1: What Plants See…Changes How They Grow

Washington State University botanist Michael Neff studies the way plants sense light and plants around them, and change their growth patterns accordingly. Plants use photoreceptors sensitive to far-red light to determine their proximity to other plants. These photoreceptors are different from infrared receptors used for photosynthesis.

“What I’ve been interested in forever is how plants use light as a source of information,” says Neff. “Plants have photoreceptors that are completely independent of photosynthesis and chloroplasts, that read their environment and say, ‘I am in full sunlight, I’m in the shade of … » More …

Winter 2005

Rewriting the Book on Photosynthesis

Thanks to David Kramer and his research group, plant physiologists can now explore what really goes on inside living leaves. » More ...

Summer 2006

No shrinking violet

Researchers at WSU are finding that plants are surprisingly assertive. Based on their findings, a case could be made that the average potted plant is at least as active as the average human couch potato—and a lot smarter about what it consumes » More ...

Summer 2002

Is nothing sacred?

Never heard of C₄ photosynthesis? Now you have. It's rare, it's cool, it could help feed the world. And WSU plant scientists just rewrote the textbook on it. » More ...