Thus, we divided every individual tree crown into 12 layers and assigned 24 grid points to each layer. All APAR

calculations were made for each grid point, which represents a spatial subvolume of the crown. The path length of radiation reaching each grid point was calculated from the size and shape of the tree crowns through which the radiation passed, and the distribution of LA within them. Beer’s Law was applied to each path length of either direct or diffuse radiation intercepted on a grid point. Direct and diffuse radiation were treated separately, where transmission of diffuse APAR was handled by the method developed by Norman (1979). Multiple scattering was calculated by the method of Norman and Welles (1983). Total Nutlin-3 APAR per tree crown was calculated in Maestra by summing individual APAR of the sub-volumes. Potential shading by all neighboring trees within the plot on each individual tree crown was also taken into account by Maestra. To avoid edge effects, border trees (two outermost tree rows) were included in the

simulations, but not included in our evaluation of patterns of light use and tree growth. Site specific model input consisted of (i) detailed individual tree data: xy-coordinates, crown radii, total tree height, height to crown base, dbh and LA and (ii) plot characteristics: latitude, longitude, slope and bearing. We used tree data from Protease Inhibitor Library ic50 the end of the investigation period to avoid any bias from back-dating models. In addition, each tree crown was parameterized for the following:

the leaf area density (LAD) distribution, the foliage clumping factor, the leaf angle distribution, the average leaf incidence angle and the geometric crown shape. Except for the vertical LAD distribution, these parameters where taken from Picea abies literature ( Medlyn et al., 2005 and Ibrom et al., 2006) and are listed in Appendix Table A.1. In Maestra the LAD distribution is assumed to follow a β-function in the horizontal and vertical direction. LA data from the sample trees was available from a previous study (Laubhann et al., 2010) to estimate the LAD distribution for each crown along a vertical depth isothipendyl profile: equation(1) rLA=β0·rCLβ1·(1-rCL)β2rLA=β0·rCLβ1·(1-rCL)β2where the relative leaf area (rLA) is the percentage of LA per crown third to the total LA of the tree and the relative crown length (rCL; 0 at the crown base and 1 at the top of the tree) (Table A.2). Parameters for the horizontal LAD distribution were taken from Ibrom et al. (2006). Daily meteorological Maestra input data (min–max temperature and total short-wave radiation) were available for all plots from 2003 to 2007 via a climate interpolation software that was parameterized and validated for Austria (Daymet; Hasenauer et al., 2003).