Critical Soil Temperature & Photosynthesis

Temperature Impact

• The increases and decreases of temperature influences how a plant will behave in its own photosynthesis process. When soil temperature climbs and gets warmer, the plant will also realize a boost in respiration. This in turn increases demand for photosynthesis with sun light as plants need to produce energy to keep up with the respiration demand. The inverse occurs when plant soil gets colder.

Acceptable Temperature Ranges

• Different plants need different temperatures, but they don't operate with fixed points. Plants instead thrive and grow within specific temperature ranges. This is why one will find redwood forests in the Marin, California, mountains and prairie grass across the Wyoming plains and eastern Washington farmland. If the temperature of the soil exceeds the acceptable range, then the plant begins to shut down photosynthesis. The same occurs on the cold end as well. Ergo when winter arrives, plants go dormant or die.

Seasonal Change

• The transition from cold winter and frozen soil to spring can impact when plants begin to wake from dormancy and initiate photosynthesis again. In some controlled settings, studies have found that photosynthesis restart occurred slower when plants were restarted from frozen soil. More of the plants' energy was focused on temperature manipulation than creating photosynthesis.

Seasons Askew

• When temperatures warm or freeze prematurely this, too, plays havoc with the plant photosynthesis process. A premature spring thaw can cause the photosynthesis process and growth to kick in early, only to get squashed by a new cold spell. However, plants tend to be fairly durable and recover when the soil temperature increases again. Unfortunately, for those plants that are depended on for crops, the damage can be significant for farmers. Florida citrus growers go through this kind of problem regularly in Florida.