ArticleThe New phytologist2022
Sunflecks in the upper canopy: dynamics of light-use efficiency in sun and shade leaves of Fagus sylvatica.
Article in The New phytologist, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Revisiting the relationship between stomatal size and speed across species - a meta-analysis.The New phytologist · 2026Pooled it
- FieldDino: Rapid In-Field Stomatal Anatomy and Physiology Phenotyping.Plant, cell & environment · 2026Article
- Using ΦPSII and leaf temperature as indicators of non-steady-state photosynthesis and stomatal conductance during stepwise changes in light intensity.Journal of experimental botany · 2026Article
- Leaf aging reduces photosynthetic and stomatal kinetics under fluctuating irradiance, but not steady-state traits.The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology · 2026Article
- One-Year Phenology of Leaf Gas Exchange Dynamics inBiology · 2026Article
- Effects of light intensity on the Panax quinquefolius L. growth and soil microbial communities under reduced light spatial heterogeneity: an application to agroforestry systems.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- Similar Relative Carbon Costs for Construction and Storage of Sun and Shade Branches in Mature Temperate Trees.Plant, cell & environment · 2026Article
- Effects of blue light and UV-B radiation during growth on photochemical yields during exposure to bright sunlight.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- Morpho-physiological and agronomic responses of wheat varieties under artificial shade in agroforestry systems.Journal of the science of food and agriculture · 2026Article
- Spotlight on the trophic response of crop plants under shade temporal fluctuation.Quantitative plant biology · 2026Article
- Stomatal conductance dominates the limitation of photosynthetic induction across leaf developmental stages in foxglove.Photosynthesis research · 2025Article
- Shade tolerance is associated with foliar adaptations, improved radiation use efficiency, and photosynthetic rate in rice.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Contrasting photosynthetic, stomatal, and mesophyll mechanisms drive common reductions in leaf water-use efficiency under blue light.Journal of experimental botany · 2025Article
- Acclimation of mango (Mangifera indica cv. Calypso) to canopy light gradients-scaling from leaf to canopy.Tree physiology · 2025Article
- Time-resolved targeted metabolomics shows an abrupt switch from Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle to tricarboxylic acid cycle when the light is turned off.Photosynthesis research · 2025Article
- Canopy Structure Exhibits Linear and Nonlinear Links to Biome-Level Maximum Light Use Efficiency.Ecology letters · 2025Article
- Making the most of canopy light: shade avoidance under a fluctuating spectrum and irradiance.Journal of experimental botany · 2025Review
- Lower-canopy marcescence facilitates light use efficiency of upper-canopy needles inFrontiers in plant science · 2025Article
- Photosynthesis and photoprotection in top leaves respond faster to irradiance fluctuations than bottom leaves in a tomato canopy.Journal of experimental botany · 2024Article
- The Chemical Landscape of Leaf Surfaces and Its Interaction with the Atmosphere.Chemical reviews · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Sunflecks are transient patches of direct radiation that provide a substantial proportion of the daily irradiance to leaves in the lower canopy. In this position, faster photosynthetic induction would allow for higher sunfleck-use efficiency, as is commonly reported in the literature. Yet, when sunflecks are too few and far between, it may be more beneficial for shade leaves to prioritize efficient photosynthesis under shade. We investigated the temporal dynamics of photosynthetic induction, recovery under shade, and stomatal movement during a sunfleck, in sun and shade leaves of Fagus sylvatica from three provenances of contrasting origin. We found that shade leaves complete full induction in a shorter time than sun leaves, but that sun leaves respond faster than shade leaves due to their much larger amplitude of induction. The core-range provenance achieved faster stomatal opening in shade leaves, which may allow for better sunfleck-use efficiency in denser canopies and lower canopy positions. Our findings represent a paradigm shift for future research into light fluctuations in canopies, drawing attention to the ubiquitous importance of sunflecks for photosynthesis, not only in lower-canopy leaves where shade is prevalent, but particularly in the upper canopy where longer sunflecks are more common due to canopy openness.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.