Is mutual shading a decisive factor for differences in overall canopy specific leaf area of winter wheat crops?

We also analyzed the influence of drought stress on SLA distribution within the canopy. Independently from the presence or absence of drought, the SLA increased from the top to the lower leaf-layers. Drought mainly reduced leaf area (L) in the higher leaf-layers, whereas SLA was reduced especially in the lower leaf-layers and the SLA of the flag leaves was not affected. Therefore, the lower cSLA under drought stress seems to be primarily an effect of differences in light environment within the canopy. The relevance for SLA modeling is discussed.