Direct and Indirect Relationships Between Specific Leaf Area, Leaf Nitrogen and Leaf Gas Exchange. Effects of Irradiance and Nutrient Supply

We present a series of competing path models relating interspecificpatterns between specific leaf area, leaf nitrogen content,net photosynthesis and stomatal conductance and test these againstdata from 22 species of herbaceous plants grown under controlledconditions with contrasting irradiance and nutrient supply rates.We then compare these results with two previous data sets, onebased on field measures and one based on glasshouse measures,to determine the robustness of the results. Only one model wasable to account for the patterns of direct and indirect effectsbetween the four variables to all data sets. In this model specificleaf area is the forcing variable that directly affects bothleaf nitrogen levels and net photosynthetic rates. Leaf nitrogenthen directly affects net photosynthetic rates which in turnthen affect stomatal conductance to water. Copyright 2001 Annalsof Botany Company Comparative ecology, modelling, path analysis, photosynthesis, plant strategies, SLA, specific leaf area, stomatal conductance