The many meanings of gross photosynthesis and their implication for photosynthesis research from leaf to globe

Gross photosynthesis is a key term in plant biology and carbon cycle science, however has been used with different meanings by different communities We review the history of this term and associated concepts to clarify the terminology and make recommendations about a consistent use of terms in accordance with photosynthetic theory. We show that a widely used eddy covariance CO2 flux partitioning approach yields estimates which are quantitatively closer to the definition of true photosynthesis despite aiming at estimating apparent photosynthesis.