Abstract
In tropical rain forests light availability is extremely variable, at many scales of observation, in time as well as in space (Chazdon 1988, Yanhong & Naoki 1997, Clark et al. 1996, Endler 1993). Light is abundant in the upper part of the forest canopy and in (large) canopy gaps but it is scarce in the forest understorey. This is mainly due to the fact that the leaves intercept and filter light while the stem and branches reflect it. This leads to lower light intensities and drastic changes in light quality with shading.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bongers, F., van der Meer, P.J., Théry, M. (2001). Scales of Ambient Light Variation. In: Bongers, F., Charles-Dominique, P., Forget, PM., Théry, M. (eds) Nouragues. Monographiae Biologicae, vol 80. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9821-7_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9821-7_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5869-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-015-9821-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive