Some structural features of forest canopy were analysed in relation to their role in photosynthetic production by forest communities which are thought to produce more organic matter than herbaceous communities under the same environment. 1) Leaf area density was found to be much smaller in forest than in herbaceous canopies. 2) Light extinction in forest canopy followed the BEER-LAMBERT'S law as was found for herbaceous canopy, though the coefficient of light extinction (K) was relatively small in the former. 3) A geometrical model was proposed to account for the small value of K and the resultant large leaf area index, based on the characteristically clustered distribution of tree leaves in forest canopy. 4) Stratification in forest community was interpreted as the uneven vertical distribution of leaf area density. 5) Deterioration of leaf functions, such as photosynthesis and respiration, toward the bottom of forest canopy was noticed. 6) An attempt to estimate total canopy photosynthesis is presented taking this into consideration. 7) A new method for estimating total canopy respiration is proposed and discussed.
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Kira et al. (1969) studied this question.