
Light distribution within crop canopies determines how efficiently plants convert sunlight into biomass. Our latest study presents a new framework that links leaf anatomy and physiology to optical properties, providing a pathway toward predictive modeling of canopy photosynthesis.
We developed a novel Directional Spectrum Detection Instrument (DSDI) and an ensemble learning (EL) model that accurately predict Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) parameters from measurable phenotypic traits.
This work integrates optical physics, phenotyping, and data-driven modeling to enable computational quantification of leaf optical diversity—a key step toward designing crop canopies with higher light-use efficiency.