High altitude ecology: Mountain climate
[First paragraph...]
A Test of the Climate Hypothesis for Divaricate Plants
To test the hypothesis that the divaricate habit protects internal leaves from cold and dry conditions, and raises leaf temperatures on cold sunny days, thermocouples were attached to internal and external leaves on divaricate plants. For Coprosma propinqua plants at Cass, inland Canterbury, there were consistent differences in temperature between leaves, but these were not simply related to their canopy position (interval vs. external).