Relative Crown Width
In addition to LAI, an important aspect of canopy geometry determining whole-plant
carbon gain is mechanical efficiency, the fraction of energy allocated to foliage v. unproductive
support tissue. Yet, because a plant's canopy is both an organ of energy capture
and a direct instrument of competitive interference, analyses based purely on mechanical
efficiency are inadequate. Among canopies having an adaptive LAI, the most mechanically
efficient are extremely short and narrow, with horizontal and vertical lever arms of vanishingly small length and cost (Givnish 1982). Yet short plants are readily
overtopped, and narrow canopies can incorporate little leaf area. A more important
question, at least for woody plants of indeterminate growth, is which canopy geometries
allow the greatest rate of height growth.
Relative Crown WidthIn addition to LAI, an important aspect of canopy geometry determining whole-plantcarbon gain is mechanical efficiency, the fraction of energy allocated to foliage v. unproductivesupport tissue. Yet, because a plant's canopy is both an organ of energy captureand a direct instrument of competitive interference, analyses based purely on mechanicalefficiency are inadequate. Among canopies having an adaptive LAI, the most mechanicallyefficient are extremely short and narrow, with horizontal and vertical lever arms of vanishingly small length and cost (Givnish 1982). Yet short plants are readilyovertopped, and narrow canopies can incorporate little leaf area. A more importantquestion, at least for woody plants of indeterminate growth, is which canopy geometriesallow the greatest rate of height growth.
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..
