Variation in leaf photosynthetic capacity within plant canopies: optimization, structural, and physiological...

Leaf photosynthetic capacity (light-saturated net assimilation rate, A_A) increases from bottom to top of plant canopies as the most prominent acclimation response to the conspicuous within-canopy gradients in light availability. Light-dependent variation in A_A through plant canopies is associated with changes in key leaf structural (leaf dry mass per unit leaf area), chemical (nitrogen (N) content per area and dry mass, N partitioning between components of photosynthetic machinery), and physiological (stomatal and mesophyll conductance) traits, whereas the contribution of different traits to within-canopy A_A gradients varies across sites, species, and plant functional types. Optimality models maximizing canopy carbon gain for a given total canopy N content predict that A_A should be proportionally related to canopy light availability. However, comparison of model expectations with experimental data of within-canopy photosynthetic trait variations in representative plant functional types indicates that such proportionality is not observed in real canopies, and A_A vs. canopy light relationships are curvilinear. The factors responsible for deviations from full optimality include stronger stomatal and mesophyll diffusion limitations at higher light, reflecting greater water limitations and more robust foliage in higher light. In addition, limits on efficient packing of photosynthetic machinery within leaf structural scaffolding, high costs of N redistribution among leaves, and limited plasticity of N partitioning among components of photosynthesis machinery constrain A_A plasticity. Overall, this review highlights that the variation of A_A through plant canopies reflects a complex interplay between adjustments of leaf structure and function to multiple environmental drivers, and that A_A plasticity is limited by inherent constraints on and trade-offs between structural, chemical, and physiological traits. I conclude that models trying to simulate photosynthesis gradients in plant canopies should consider co-variations among environmental drivers, and the limitation of functional trait variation by physical constraints and include the key trade-offs between structural, chemical, and physiological leaf characteristics.