A THEORETICAL-STUDY OF THE LIGHT MICROENVIRONMENT IN A LEAF IN RELATION TO PHOTOSYNTHESIS

This study theoretically combines the information concerning light gradients and gradients of the chloroplast photosynthetic capacity in a leaf. The resulting curve of light saturation at different depths as a function of incident light intensity reveals the structural properties of leaf photosynthesis. It is suggested that the optics and morphology of a leaf provide not the uniform saturation of different paradermal layers but rather the avoidance of the photoinhibition up to states not far from the saturation of the entire leaf.