ArticleAnnals of botany2024
Quantifying water-use efficiency in plant canopies with varying leaf angle and density distribution.
Article in Annals of botany, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Potato Tuberisation Responses to Drought and a Film-Forming Antitranspirant.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- A wheat canopy albedo high-throughput phenotyping method and its relationship with canopy architecture and leaf properties.Frontiers in plant science · 2026Article
- Ecotypic Variation in Leaf Thermoregulation and Heat Tolerance but Not Thermal Safety Margins in Tropical Trees.Plant, cell & environment · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsVariation in architectural traits related to the spatial and angular distribution of leaf area can have considerable impacts on canopy-scale fluxes contributing to water-use efficiency (WUE). These architectural traits are frequent targets for crop improvement and for improving the understanding and predictions of net ecosystem carbon and water fluxes.
methodsA three-dimensional, leaf-resolving model along with a range of virtually generated hypothetical canopies were used to quantify interactions between canopy structure and WUE by examining its response to variation of leaf inclination independent of leaf azimuth, canopy heterogeneity, vegetation density and physiological parameters. KEY
resultsOverall, increasing leaf area index (LAI), increasing the daily-averaged fraction of leaf area projected in the sun direction (Gavg) via the leaf inclination or azimuth distribution and increasing homogeneity had a similar effect on canopy-scale daily fluxes contributing to WUE. Increasing any of these parameters tended to increase daily light interception, increase daily net photosynthesis at low LAI and decrease it at high LAI, increase daily transpiration and decrease WUE. Isolated spherical crowns could decrease photosynthesis by ~60 % but increase daily WUE ≤130 % relative to a homogeneous canopy with equivalent leaf area density. There was no observed optimum in daily canopy WUE as LAI, leaf angle distribution or heterogeneity was varied. However, when the canopy was dense, a more vertical leaf angle distribution could increase both photosynthesis and WUE simultaneously.
conclusionsVariation in leaf angle and density distributions can have a substantial impact on canopy-level carbon and water fluxes, with potential trade-offs between the two. These traits might therefore be viable target traits for increasing or maintaining crop productivity while using less water, and for improvement of simplified models. Increasing canopy density or decreasing canopy heterogeneity increases the impact of leaf angle on WUE and its dependent processes.
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