Table 2

Parameter1	PC1 (48.4%)	PC2 (21%)	PC3 (16%)
Vcmax	0.76^*2	-0.05	0.48^*
Jmax	0.88^*	-0.36	-0.07
Rdlight	-0.22	-0.89^*	0.09
Gmeso	0.51^*	0.53^*	0.56^*
Γ^*	-0.51^*	-0.26	0.72^*
Γ	-0.87^*	-0.14	0.22
Anet	0.84^*	-0.43^*	-0.01

1 =Abbreviations: V_cmax, maximum rate of carboxylation limited by the amount, activity and kinetics of rubisco; J_max, maximum rate of carboxylation limited by electron transport; R_dlight, rate of respiration in the presence of light; G_meso, mesophyll CO₂ conductance; Γ^*, chloroplast CO₂photo-compensation point without considering R_dlight; Γ, CO₂ compensation point considering R_dlight; A_net, net photosynthesis estimated at the transition from RuBP-limited to the TPU-limited photosynthesis. 2^*=correlations are statistically significant (p=0.05).

Table 2: Correlation coefficients between the first three axes of the principal component analysis (PCA) and the seven photosynthetic parameters used in the PCA analysis. The analysis was based on the averaged data from photosynthesisintercellular CO2 concentration curves for 26 C3 rangeland plant species. Measurements were made at 28ºC, but the parameters were scaled to 25ºC. The percentages of variance of the original seven parameters explained by the PCA axes are included in the parentheses.