ENVIRONMENTAL

FACTORS

SOLAR RADIATION
RADIATION AND
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
• Radiant energy
input
– Greatest on days
with a clear, dry
atmosphere and
the sun at its zenith
• Plant response
cover a parallel
range due to
differences in
irradiance
Components of Solar Radiation in the
Atmosphere
• Emission

• Absorption

• Reflection

• Transmission
 Emission
• Stefan-Boltzmann Law
– explains the relationship between an object's temperature and the
amount of radiation that it emits
– Total radiation is proportional to the 4th power of its absolute
temperature
E (φ)= σT4
E- maximum rate of radiation (often referred to as energy flux)
emitted by each square meter of the object's surface
Greek letter “σ” (sigma) represents the Stefan-Boltzmann
constant (5.67 x 10-8W/m2K4)
T is the object's surface temperature in Kelvin
W refers to watt, which is the unit used to express power
(expressed in joules per second)
 Absorption
• Lambert-Beer’s Law
– Absorption of light at particular
wavelength by a medium can be
quantified by absorption
coefficient (k) or extinction
coefficient
– Quantity of light beam absorbed
by a substance is proportional to
the concentration of the
substance (c) and the pathlength
(b)
 Absorption
λ = log (Io/I) = kcb

Io = PFD of incident light beam

I = PFD after transmission through
a solution

kcb
I = Ioe
 Absorption
Wavelength Absorption
Region /Occurrence
UV (shorter Absorbed by ozone
wavelength) (200-330 nm) and
oxygen (120-180 nm)
in the atmosphere
IR (long Filtered by water
wavelength) vapor (930-1470 nm)
and carbon dioxide
(2700 nm) content of
atmosphere
Visible light About 40-50% solar
(0.37 – 0.78 µm) reaches vegetation

http://www.ces.fau.edu/nasa/module-2/ho
w-greenhouse-effect-works.php
 Reflection and Transmission
• Aside from being emitted or absorbed, light can
be reflected or transmitted by a body
• Light reflection occurs when light returns from a
surface that it strikes to the medium it travelled
 Reflection and Transmission
• Laws governing Light Reflection
– The angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence
• Smooth surface gives regular reflection in which incidence is
parallel after reflection
– Rough or uneven surface gives diffuse reflection –scattered
and non parallel rays
 Reflection and Transmission
• Laws governing Light Reflection
– Internal reflection occurs when light passes from one
medium to a less dense medium
• Water or leaf tissue to air
• When rays reach the boundary of the two mediums --- rays
will return to the denser medium
Modifications of LIGHT QUANTITY in
the atmosphere
• When passing through earth’s atmosphere,
sunlight is modified by reflection, absorption
and scattering of its various components
– Atmosphere reduces sunlight energy at the top of
atmosphere until it reaches the earth’s surface by
about 47% (Lambert-Beer’s Law)
Modifications of LIGHT QUANTITY in
the atmosphere
• Tropical regions (<23o) receive higher light energy than the
average earth’s surface --- function of latitude and function of
the sun’s rays
Typical instantaneous PAR values at
vegetation surfaces

• Full sunlight
– 1200 – 1800 µmol/m2/sec ~ 250 – 400 W/m2

• Overcast sky
– 1000 – 400 µmol/m2/sec ~ 25 – 100 W/m2
Modification of LIGHT QUANTITY in
the atmosphere
• Diurnal variation – PPFD at midday reaches 1800
– 2200 µmol/m2/s Radiant energy input is greatest on days
with a clear, dry atmosphere, and the sun
at its zenith
 Schematic diagram showing the diurnal variation
in the solar radiation receipt on three days with
no cloud cover at a latitude of 52 ◦ N.

Varies between the long days and short days---July and January
--higher in July
Modification of LIGHT QUANTITY in
the atmosphere
• Random weather effects ---total daily photons =
40 – 50 mol/m2/d (10-12.5 W/m2) and cloud
cover reduces PPFD up to 75%
Modification of LIGHT QUALITY AND
DIRECTION in the atmosphere
• Atmosphere permits the passage of
300-1500nm light wavelength and transparent
to visible light

Type of Light On top of Earth

Atmosphere (%) Atmosphere (%)
UV 5 2
Visible 28 45
IR 67 53
Modification of LIGHT QUALITY AND
DIRECTION in the atmosphere
• IR light is reduced by water and carbon dioxide
• Incident light at the top of the plant canopies
can be distinguished as direct and diffuse
lights---both shortwave radiation
– Direct light – not modified by particles in
atmosphere and reaches canopy directly
– Diffuse light – light components scattered or
reflected by various particles
SOLAR RADIATION IN PLANT
CANOPY
 Sun

SOLAR RADIATION
30% Reflected Ultraviolet light
45% is used to heat the atmosphere
23% Evaporation, precipitation
0.2% Winds, waves and currents
0.8% Photosynthesis

Ozone
Shield
45% INFRARED LIGHT 45% VISIBLE LIGHT 10% ULTRAVIOLET
LIGHT
Near Infrared is
reflected and so
temperatures too Absorbs blue and red
high for survival are wavelengths strongly,
avoided green less strongly

Far Infrared is Vegetation

absorbed strongly

Cooling is also effected

by evaporation of water PHOTOSYNTHESIS
from vegetation Approximately 1.7 x 10
surfaces 21 J of energy is converted to primary productivity per year
 Two components of solar radiation
reaching vegetation
• Unintercepted direct radiation – may penetrate
either as diffuse or direct radiation (sunfleck) –
direct irradiation
– Gaps in the canopy act as diffusing lenses-spreading
the beam as penumbra
– Reflected radiation may be focused into the sunfleck
adding some of the high FR component
 Two components of solar radiation
reaching vegetation
• Unintercepted diffuse radiation – diffuse
skylight counterpart of sunfleck → large
contribution of irradiance beneath canopies
– e.g. forest floors
– A single sunfleck is likely to penetrate through one
canopy gap, whereas all other canopy gaps will allow
skylight to penetrate
 How radiation penetrate the canopy
• Radiant flux passing through a
• Transmission leaf is not simply reduced in
• Reflection density but also altered in
terms of spectral quality
• Absorption • Transmission depends on the
structure and thickness of
leaves
Leaf Thickness SR Transmission (%)
Soft flexible leaves 10-20%
Thin leaves Up to 40%
Thick solid leaves Generally no transmission
Typically leaves transmit few percent of incident PAR in the green band (550
nm)—transmitted light have high FR:R ratio
 How radiation penetrate the canopy
• Albedo coefficient
• Transmission • Amount of light reflected by canopies
• Reflection • Degree of reflection depends on:
– Leaf shape
• Absorption – Leaf thickness/shininess/smoothness
– Hairs, trichomes, etc

Wavelength Radiation reflected by leaves (%)

IR Region 70
Visible light 6-12
green (10-20)
orange and red (3-10)
UV range <3
 How radiation penetrate the canopy
• Not much infrared is
absorbed in the region up to
• Transmission 2000nm
• Reflection • About 97% heat radiation is
• Absorption absorbed in the range of long
wavelength (above 7000nm)
• Light is attenuated as it
passes through the leaf or
through the canopy layers
 How radiation penetrate the canopy
• Most UVs are retained (2-5%) by
waxy, cuticular and suberized
• Transmission outer layer of epidermis
• Reflection • Usually 1% of UV radiation enters
deeper portion of the leaves
• Absorption • Absorption of visible light
---depends on chloroplast
pigments
• About 70% of Photosynthetically
utilizable radiation entering
mesophyll is absorbed by
chloroplast
 Absorption, Transmission,
Reflectance
• Depends on:
– Depth and nature of the shade
– Number, thickness, distribution and type of leaves
– Leaf area and leaf area index in relation to PAR in plant
communities

Under leaf canopies → irradiance, spectral distribution

and periodicity are altered or modified to produce
distinct environment requiring Psic and
morphogenetic adaptations
 Light Attenuation within Canopy
• Light decreases exponentially from top to the
bottom of the canopy
• Monsei and Saeki (1963) – modified Lambert-Beer’s
Law for plant canopy application
– Average flux density of photons (I) on horizontal surface
below certain layers of leaves can be determined by:
I = Ioe-kLAI
– Io = flux density of light at the top of the layer
– K = absorption property of foliage (extinction coefficient)
– LAI – leaf area index
 -kLAI
I = Ioe
• Model requires the measurement of canopy
extinction coefficient which is assumed to be
species constant
• K could be a major function of leaf angle
– Eg...grass canopies vs herbs
• Variations in light attenuation under different
vegetation
How efficient is the
layers? How much
was absorb

Noreal birch-spruce forest Sparse Pine forest

Sunflower field Maize field

 Extinction Coefficient
I/Io = e-kLAI

• The proportion of incident PPFD intercepted by

a plant community is a function of its LAI and
extinction coefficient
• In logarithm form – equation is represented by a
straight line
 Dense canopy has
lower k
1.0
Shade studies and
intercropping/
I/Io multicropping system
0.2

1 2 3 4

LAI
Logarithmic Plot of the equation: I/Io = e-kLAI

•K operate only at low LAI – not

at denser planting > light is not
1.0
already available
•The larger the k, the more the
reduction of biomass
I/Io Small k accumulation
Large k •LAI is associated with CGR =
NAR x LAI
0.2

LAI
• Low k = long-leaved
and erect plants

• High k = short-leaved
and short plant
Crop growth rates of common forage grasses in the canopy
and the leaf area index (Sheehy and Cooper, 1973)

Species Crop Growth Extinction Leaf Area

Rate Coefficient Index
(gm-2 d-1) (k)
Festuca arundinaceae 43.6 0.34 11.2
Dactylis glomerata 40.5 0.23 13.7
25.0 0.91 14.9
Phleum pretense 36.4 0.30 15.5
28.9 0.39 10.4
21.9 0.55 14.5

Note the negative correlation between growth rate and k