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Extensive within-canopy light gradients importantly affect the photosynthetic productivity of leaves in different canopy positions and lead to light-dependent increases in foliage photosynthetic capacity per area (AA ). However, the controls on AA variations by changes in underlying traits are poorly known. We constructed an unprecedented worldwide database including 831 within-canopy gradients with standardized light estimates for 304 species belonging to major vascular plant functional types, and analyzed within-canopy variations in 12 key foliage structural, chemical and physiological traits by quantitative separation of the contributions of different traits to photosynthetic acclimation. Although the light-dependent increase in AA is surprisingly similar in different plant functional types, they differ fundamentally in the share of the controls on AA by constituent traits. Species with high rates of canopy development and leaf turnover, exhibiting highly dynamic light environments, actively change AA by nitrogen reallocation among and partitioning within leaves. By contrast, species with slow leaf turnover exhibit a passive AA acclimation response, primarily determined by the acclimation of leaf structure to growth light. This review emphasizes that different combinations of traits are responsible for within-canopy photosynthetic acclimation in different plant functional types, and solves an old enigma of the role of mass- vs area-based traits in vegetation acclimation.

River restoration projects often involve vegetation planting to retain sediment and stabilize riverbanks. Laboratory experiments have explored the impact of rigid emergent vegetation canopies on bed morphology. Inside canopies, bed erosion is attributed to vegetation‐induced turbulent kinetic energy (TKE). Based on the in‐canopy local TKE and the criteria for sediment movement, a method is established and validated for predicting the length of the bed erosion region. In the bare channel, bed erosion is related to the ratio of canopy length to flow adjustment distance, L/LI, and exhibits two trends. At L/LI < 1, the maximum depth, ds(bare), and length, Ls(bare), of the bed erosion region increase with increasing canopy length. At L/LI ≥ 1, ds(bare) and Ls(bare) are not influenced by the canopy length and remain constant. In vegetated regions with the same length and plant density, discontinuous canopies (streamwise interval s ≥ canopy width D) yield weaker bed erosion than continuous canopies. The mutual influence between two canopies must be considered if the canopy interval satisfies s < 3D. These results provide insights for designing vegetation canopies for river restoration projects. Key Points The impact of canopy length on bed morphology inside and outside the canopy is clarified A method for predicting the length of the bed erosion region inside canopies is established Discontinuous canopies produce weaker bed erosion than continuous canopies for the same vegetated region length and plant density

1. We carried out a factorial experiment to examine how groundwater availability (low and high sites with intermediate or rare flooding), vegetation canopy, leaf litter and seed availability interacted to determine the species richness of a productive wet grassland community in Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve, Cambridgeshire, UK. Seeds of 18 species were added to half the plots in each of eight combinations of elevation, canopy and litter, and seedling emergence was observed for two growing seasons. 2. Both individual and interactive effects on plant diversity and colonization were determined for all four examined factors. Interactive effects explained 41-63% of the total variation in both species richness and numbers of individuals growing from added seeds. 3. Neither elevation nor vegetation canopy had significant individual effects on total species richness, but their interaction was significant. Litter addition limited seedling emergence at the low elevation but favoured it at the high elevation. 4. The relative importance of vegetation canopy and plant litter in affecting plant community composition varied with the community parameter considered (species richness or number of seedlings), elevation and stage of vegetation development. In general, plant litter was more important in determining species richness, whereas the vegetation canopy was more important in determining seed germination and seedling emergence. Plant litter was also more important than vegetation canopy at an early stage of vegetation development and at low elevation. 5. Seed availability was the most important factor in determining overall species richness in the studied community. The influence of the local seed bank was very limited. Seedling emergence and seedling species richness were generally enhanced by lower elevation and seed addition, but depressed by vegetation and litter addition. 6. The complex relationships observed have considerable implications for ecological modelling and ecosystem restoration. Manipulation of one factor may produce unexpected effects on other factors, which may induce a series of consequences for the whole community. Further knowledge on how natural communities are organized and maintained is needed to guide the management of ecosystems.

Plants compete with neighbouring vegetation for limited resources. In competition for light, plants adjust their architecture to bring the leaves higher in the vegetation where more light is available than in the lower strata. These architectural responses include accelerated elongation of the hypocotyl, internodes and petioles, upward leaf movement (hyponasty), and reduced shoot branching and are collectively referred to as the shade avoidance syndrome. This review discusses various cues that plants use to detect the presence and proximity of neighbouring competitors and respond to with the shade avoidance syndrome. These cues include light quality and quantity signals, mechanical stimulation, and plant-emitted volatile chemicals. We will outline current knowledge about each of these signals individually and discuss their possible interactions. In conclusion, we will make a case for a whole-plant, ecophysiology approach to identify the relative importance of the various neighbour detection cues and their possible interactions in determining plant performance during competition.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Variations in the water and soil background in the signal path can cause variations in canopy spectral reflectance, which leads to uncertainty in estimating the canopy nitrogen (N) status. The primary objective of this study was to explore the optimum vegetation indices that were highly correlated with canopy leaf N concentration (LNC) but less influenced by the canopy leaf area index (LAI) and vegetation coverage (VC) in rice. METHODS: A systematic analysis of the quantitative relationships between various hyperspectral vegetation indices and LNC, VC and LAI was conducted based on 4-year rice field experiments using different rice varieties, N rates and planting densities. New spectral indices were derived to estimate LNC in rice under variable vegetation coverage. RESULTS: Although the newly developed simple green ratio indices, SR (R₅₅₃, R₅₃₇) and SR (R₅₄₅, R₅₃₈), and the three-band index (R₆₀₅-R₅₂₁-R₆₈₂)/(R₆₀₅+R₅₂₁+R₆₈₂) correlated well with the LNC. Only SR (R₅₅₃, R₅₃₇) was less influenced by VC/LAI and showed a stable performance in both the independent calibration and validation datasets. For the published indices tested in the present study, NDVIg-b and ND (R₅₀₃, R₄₈₃) showed a good predictive ability for the LNC. However, both of these indices and other published indices were found to be significantly dominated by the VC/LAI. CONCLUSION: SR (R₅₅₃, R₅₃₇) was the best index to reliably estimate the LNC in rice under various cultivation conditions, and is recommended for this use. However, other spectral indices need to be examined to determine if they influenced by factors such as VC/LAI. Such studies will improve the applicability of these indices to different types of rice cultivars and production systems.

Background and AimsPlants use diffuse light more efficiently than direct light. However, experimental comparisons between diffuse and direct light have been obscured by co-occurring differences in environmental conditions (e.g. light intensity). This study aims to analyse the factors that contribute to an increase in crop photosynthesis in diffuse light and to quantify their relative contribution under different levels of diffuseness at similar light intensities. The hypothesis is that the enhancement of crop photosynthesis in diffuse light results not only from the direct effects of more uniform vertical and horizontal light distribution in the crop canopy, but also from crop physiological and morphological acclimation.MethodsTomato (Solanum lycopersicum) crops were grown in three greenhouse compartments that were covered by glass with different degrees of light diffuseness (0, 45 and 71 % of the direct light being converted into diffuse light) while maintaining similar light transmission. Measurements of horizontal and vertical photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) distribution in the crop, leaf photosynthesis light response curves and leaf area index (LAI) were used to quantify each factor's contribution to an increase in crop photosynthesis in diffuse light. In addition, leaf temperature, photoinhibition, and leaf biochemical and anatomical properties were studied.Key ResultsThe highest degree of light diffuseness (71 %) increased the calculated crop photosynthesis by 7·2 %. This effect was mainly attributed to a more uniform horizontal (33 % of the total effect) and vertical PPFD distribution (21 %) in the crop. In addition, plants acclimated to the high level of diffuseness by gaining a higher photosynthetic capacity of leaves in the middle of the crop and a higher LAI, which contributed 23 and 13 %, respectively, to the total increase in crop photosynthesis in diffuse light. Moreover, diffuse light resulted in lower leaf temperatures and less photoinhibition at the top of the canopy when global irradiance was high.ConclusionsDiffuse light enhanced crop photosynthesis. A more uniform horizontal PPFD distribution played the most important role in this enhancement, and a more uniform vertical PPFD distribution and higher leaf photosynthetic capacity contributed more to the enhancement of crop photosynthesis than did higher values of LAI.

Significant variation in photosynthesis and growth in 64 wheat cultivars was explained by differences in photosynthetic capacity, operation and CO2 diffusion. Natural variation in photosynthesis is an underutilized resource for potential crop improvement.

Photosynthesis is the basis of plant growth, and improving photosynthesis can contribute toward greater food security in the coming decades as world population increases. Multiple targets have been identified that could be manipulated to increase crop photosynthesis. The most important target is Rubisco because it catalyses both carboxylation and oxygenation reactions and the majority of responses of photosynthesis to light, CO 2 , and temperature are reflected in its kinetic properties. Oxygenase activity can be reduced either by concentrating CO 2 around Rubisco or by modifying the kinetic properties of Rubisco. The C 4 photosynthetic pathway is a CO 2 -concentrating mechanism that generally enables C 4 plants to achieve greater efficiency in their use of light, nitrogen, and water than C 3 plants. To capitalize on these advantages, attempts have been made to engineer the C 4 pathway into C 3 rice (Oryza sativa). A simpler approach is to transfer bicarbonate transporters from cyanobacteria into chloroplasts and prevent CO 2 leakage. Recent technological breakthroughs now allow higher plant Rubisco to be engineered and assembled successfully in planta. Novel amino acid sequences can be introduced that have been impossible to reach via normal evolution, potentially enlarging the range of kinetic properties and breaking free from the constraints associated with covariation that have been observed between certain kinetic parameters. Capturing the promise of improved photosynthesis in greater yield potential will require continued efforts to improve carbon allocation within the plant as well as to maintain grain quality and resistance to disease and lodging.

Past increases in yield potential of wheat have largely resulted from improvements in harvest index rather than increased biomass. Further large increases in harvest index are unlikely, but an opportunity exists for increasing productive biomass and harvestable grain. Photosynthetic capacity and efficiency are bottlenecks to raising productivity and there is strong evidence that increasing photosynthesis will increase crop yields provided that other constraints do not become limiting. Even small increases in the rate of net photosynthesis can translate into large increases in biomass and hence yield, since carbon assimilation is integrated over the entire growing season and crop canopy. This review discusses the strategies to increase photosynthesis that are being proposed by the wheat yield consortium in order to increase wheat yields. These include: selection for photosynthetic capacity and efficiency, increasing ear photosynthesis, optimizing canopy photosynthesis, introducing chloroplast CO₂ pumps, increasing RuBP regeneration, improving the thermal stability of Rubisco activase, and replacing wheat Rubisco with that from other species with different kinetic properties.