Optimal stomatal control in relation to leaf area and nitrogen content

By G. Farquhar, Thomas N. Buckley, Jeffrey M. Miller. 2002

178 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We introduce the simultaneous optimisation of water-use effi ciency and nitrogen-use effi ciency of canopy photosynthesis. As a vehicle for this idea we consider the optimal leaf area for a plant in which there is no self-shading among leaves. An emergent result is that canopy assimilation over a day is a scaled sum of daily water use and of photosynthetic nitrogen display. The respective scaling factors are the marginal carbon benefi ts of extra transpiration and extra such nitrogen, respectively. The simple approach successfully predicts that as available water increases, or evaporative demand decreases, the leaf area should increase, with a concomitant reduction in nitrogen per unit leaf area. The changes in stomatal conductance are therefore less than would occur if leaf area were not to change. As irradiance increases, the modelled leaf area decreases, and nitrogen/leaf area increases. As total available nitrogen increases, leaf area also increases. In all the examples examined, the sharing by leaf area and properties per unit leaf area means that predicted changes in either are less than if predicted in isolation. We suggest that were plant density to be included, it too would further share the response, further diminishing the changes required per unit leaf area.

Subfields: Global and Planetary Change, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f831393dcf4b24b1ca00ff53b2fe6ed56c992099

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Global and Planetary Change

In Plant Science

Citations in the corpus

Photosynthetic physiology of eucalypts along a sub-continental rainfall gradient in northern Australia (2011, result): “This change in LMA, leaf Narea, and photosynthetic capacity with decreasing MAP is consistent with theoretical predictions (Farquhar et al., 2002), and with previous observations in this and other ecosystems (Midgley et al., 2004; Mooney et al., 1978; Schulze et al., 1998; Wright et al., 2001).”
Modulation of leaf economic traits and trait relationships by climate (2005, background): “High N area in species from high irradiance sites is generally thought to allow plants to take advantage of the high light for photosynthesis, without significant internal self-shading of chloroplasts (Mooney et al., 1978; Cunningham et al., 1999; Farquhar et al., 2002).”
Global effects of soil and climate on leaf photosynthetic traits and rates (2015, background): “…less so, Parea) at drier sites is well known (Field et al., 1983; Schulze et al., 1998), and accords with theory which predicts the predominance of high-Narea strategies as a means to economise on water use during photosynthesis (Farquhar et al., 2002; Wright et al., 2003, discussed further below).”
Optimal Function Explains Forest Responses to Global Change (2009, background): “OMs incorporating multiple resource constraints have also been developed (e.g., Farquhar et al. 2002, Wright et al. 2003).”