The effects of ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation on stomatal conductance (g s ) in pea (Pisum sativum L.), commelina (Commelina communis L.), and oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) plants were investigated. Plants were grown in a greenhouse either with three different high ratios of UV-B to photosynthetically active radiation or with no UV-B radiation. On exposure to increased levels of UV-B radiation, many plant species exhibit reductions in their net photosynthetic rate and productivity (Teramura and Ziska, 1996). High UV-B irradiance has been shown to inhibit photosynthesis in pea (Nogués and Baker, 1995), oilseed rape (Allen et al., 1997), soybean (Middleton and Teramura, 1993), rice (Ziska and Teramura, 1992), and algae (Lesser, 1996). Such inhibition of photosynthetic competence primarily involves the loss of both Rubisco activity and content (Allen et al., 1997), but is also associated with the loss of activity of sedoheptulose 1,7-biphosphatase (Allen et al., 1998), and probably that of other Calvin cycle enzymes, and is sometimes associated with damage to PSII photochemistry (Nogués and Baker, 1995;Baker et al., 1997;Allen et al., 1998).It is not clear whether changes in stomatal function play a major role in the UV-B-induced inhibition of CO 2 assimilation. An increase in stomatal limitation observed in oilseed rape (Allen et al., 1997) and soybean (Middleton and Teramura, 1993), together with a reduction in the intercellular CO 2 concentration (c i ) in pea (Day and Vogelmann, 1995), suggests that there may be a direct UV-B effect on stomatal function. However, it is widely reported that any UV-B effects on stomata do not affect CO 2 assimilation (Murali and Teramura, 1986;Sullivan and Teramura, 1989;Teramura et al., 1991;Ziska and Teramura, 1992). Recent studies on pea leaves developed under high UV-B irradiance showed that there were no changes in any photosynthetic parameter measured: light-saturated net CO 2 assimilation rate (A sat ), maximum carboxylation velocity of Rubisco (V cmax ), maximum potential rate of electron transport contributing to RuBP regeneration (J max ), ratio of variable to maximal chlorophyll fluorescence yield (F v /F m ), and the relative quantum efficiency of PSII photochemistry ( PSII ) although there were reductions of adaxial stomatal conductance (g s ), but not abaxial g s (Nogués et al., 1998). The effects on adaxial g s were mediated by changes in aperture, as there was no reduction in stomatal density in these pea leaves (Nogués et al., 1998). This demonstrated direct effects of high UV-B on g s in the long term (days). In contrast, small (30%) increases in the natural dose had no measurable effects on the g s of pea plants grown in the field (Allen et al., 1999).The objective of this study was to further characterize the effect of UV-B radiation on g s . We studied the effect of growth under three different ratios of UV-B to PAR or with no UV-B radiation on adaxial and abaxial g s in leaves of pea (Pisum sativum). Only at the higher UV-B irradiances (Ͼ3ϫ maximum midsum...