Comparative evolution of photosynthetic light response curves: Approaches and pitfalls in phylogenetic modeling of a function-valued trait

Plant adaptation to diverse conditions includes species divergence in
photosynthetic physiology. This dataset contains photosynthetic light
response curve data collected on a single germplasm accession for each of
28 diverse wild sunflower species (genus Helianthus) grown under
controlled greenhouse conditions. Gas exchange data was collected using a
TARGAS-1 portable photosynthesis system, with standard outputs for this
instrument provided at each data point collected across nine light levels
from complete darkness to 2500 micromoles per meter squared per second of
photosynthetically active radiation flux. The dataset includes directly
measured values (reference and analysis values for carbon dioxide and
water vapor, atmospheric pressure and flow rate, exterior and interior
light levels, and cuvette temperature), as well as calculated values (leaf
temperature, transpiration rate, vapor pressure deficit, stomatal
conductance, net photosynthetic assimilation, and intercellular carbon
dioxide concentration). Note that four species with narrow leaves did not
fill the chamber cuvette (see article for adjustment method), and 3% of
data points have partially missing data values due to the instrument
entering auto-zero cycle. The dataset was used to conduct function-valued
trait (FVT) modeling of the evolution of light curves with phylogenetic
comparative methods. The dataset could be used as part of meta-analysis or
synthesis requiring light response curve data, with appropriate
considerations of data limitations.