Interspecific variation of photosynthesis and leaf characteristics in canopy trees of five species of Dipterocarpaceae in a tropical rain forest

Photosynthetic rate, nitrogen concentration and morphological properties of canopy leaves were studied in 18 trees, comprising five dipterocarp species, in a tropical rain forest in Sarawak, Malaysia. Photosynthetic rate at light saturation (P..) differed significantly across species, varying from 7 to 18 mumol m(-2) s(-1). Leaf nitrogen concentration and morphological properties, such as leaf blade and palisade layer thickness, leaf mass per area (LMA) and surface area of mesophyll cells per unit leaf area (A(mes)/A), also varied significantly across species. Among the relationships with leaf characteristics, P-max had the strongest correlation with leaf mesophyll parameters, such as palisade cell layer thickness (r(2) = 0.76, P < 0.001) and A(mes)/A (r(2) =0.73, P<0.001). Leaf nitrogen concentration and P.. per unit area also had a significant but weaker correlation (r(2) = 0.46, P < 0.01), whereas P-max had no correlation, or only weakly significant correlations, with leaf blade thickness and LMA. Shorea beccariana Burck, which had the highest P-max of the species studied, also had the thickest palisade layer, with up to five or more layers. We conclude that interspecific variation in photosynthetic capacity in tropical rain forest canopies is influenced more by leaf mesophyll structure than by leaf thickness, LMA or leaf nitrogen concentration.