The effect of leaf-lobing on the interception of direct solar radiation

Abstract

The extent to which leaf-lobing influences the interception of direct solar radiation by individual plants was studied by means of computer simulations. The morphology, size and orientation ofAmbrosia artemisiifolia L. leaves were measured and used to construct a prototypeAmbrosia plant upon which a computer simulation was based. The leaf geometries of this simulation were then varied, and daily integrated irradiances (DII) were calculated for each variant plant simulation. Data indicate that lobedAmbrosia leaves do not confer an advantage to light-interception based upon values of DII. Simulated plants identical in all respects to the prototype, but with simple, elliptic leaves, had equivalent DII values to the prototype. Simulations with leaves in which gaps between lobes were "filledin" had reduced light-interception efficiencies compared to the prototype and to a simulation with elliptic-leaves. Lightinterception was maximized when leaves on distal nodes wereAmbrosia-like and leaves on proximal nodes were elliptic. The data are interpreted to indicate that lobingperse is not functionally advantageous to light-interception; however, gradients of leaf-lobing along the length of shoots may be very significant in terms of overall light interception.