Competition for light, water, and nutrients is intense among the land plants. plant success is generally related to photosynthesis, so evolution has resulted in many structural adaptations for efficiently acquiring light from the sun and co2 from the air. as you read this section, focus on how this is accomplished. let's look first at adaptations to increase light capture. how do plants reduce self-shading?

Plants reduce self-shading by:

1. Stems are conduits for water and nutrients supporting structures for leaves.

2. Phyllotaxy.

3. Light absorption is affected by leaf area index and leaf orientation.

Explanation: Phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a stem specific to each species. Plants reduce self-shading by their way of undergoing to self-pruning in which the non-productive leaves that they have been undergoing to the programmed cell death in which this allows plants to reduce self-shading. Self-shading is a common adaptation that they need in a way of having to increase the capture of light that the leaves needs.

There are several ways that plants avoid self-shading. One is through phyllotaxis which is the arrangement of leaves on a tree which ensures each leaf gets maximum exposure to sunlight. The other is leaf orientation and leaf area index that maximizes sunlight capture. The other is their support by the stem that ensures that their growth does not overlap that underneath it