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18 - Plant canopies

from Part V - Biometeorology

Gordon B. Bonan
Gordon B. Bonan
Affiliation:
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
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Summary

Chapter summary

The principles that determine the temperature, energy balance, and the photosynthetic rate of a leaf also determine those of plant canopies when integrated over all leaves in the canopy. These processes are greatly affected by the amount of leaf area, quantified by leaf area index. The vertical profile of leaf area in the canopy affects the distribution of radiation in the canopy and the absorption of radiation by leaves. With low leaf area index, plants absorb little solar radiation, and the overall surface albedo is largely that of soil. The absorption of radiation increases with greater leaf area index, and surface albedo responds more to the optical properties of foliage rather than soil. The integration of leaf processes over the light profile is central to understand the scaling of leaf processes to the canopy. The carbon uptake by a canopy is the integration of the photosynthetic rates of individual leaves, accounting for variations in light and microclimate with depth in the canopy. Similarly, canopy conductance is an aggregate measure of the conductance of individual leaves. The profile of leaf area in the canopy also greatly affects turbulence within the canopy. Counter-gradient fluxes and intermittent turbulence are common and preclude the use of simple models based on diffusion along a concentration gradient. The effects of vegetation on surface fluxes can be modeled by treating the soil–canopy system as an effective bulk surface, or “big leaf,” or by separately modeling soil and vegetation, the latter often represented as several layers of sunlit and shaded leaves.

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Ecological Climatology
Concepts and Applications
 , pp. 253 - 272
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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  • Plant canopies
  • Gordon B. Bonan, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
  • Book: Ecological Climatology
  • Online publication: 05 April 2013
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511805530.019
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  • Plant canopies
  • Gordon B. Bonan, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
  • Book: Ecological Climatology
  • Online publication: 05 April 2013
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511805530.019
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  • Plant canopies
  • Gordon B. Bonan, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
  • Book: Ecological Climatology
  • Online publication: 05 April 2013
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511805530.019
Available formats
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