A compilation of canopy leaf inclination angle measurements across plant species and biome types

The inclination angle of leaves in plant canopies is important for a range of land ecosystem processes, including radiation absorption from vegetation, land surface reflectance, microclimate, and photosynthetic CO2 uptake. While inclination angles of leaves have been measured for decades, such measurements remain scattered in the scientific literature, and the actual variation of leaf inclination angles across land ecosystems remains poorly understood and quantified. We compiled a dataset of previously published field measurements of mean canopy leaf angles, gathering 531 records from 48 publications, including data from single-species and multi-species canopies from most major biomes. Only data from field-grown plants were included. When studies presented data on seasonal variation on mean canopy leaf angles from the same species/locations, the data were averaged and considered as a single record. The records were originally measured using several techniques, including clinometers and ...