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Asner, G. P., Martin, R. E., Anderson, C. B., & Knapp, D. E. (2015). Quantifying forest canopy traits: Imaging spectroscopy versus field survey.  Remote Sensing of Environment ,  158 , 15-27. They use canopy sunlit reflectance at plot level and the trait samples from sunlit. The plot averaged refletance minimize canopy architectural effect. However actual field samples cover only 5% of a plot, the plot reflectance well explains canopy traits.

Li, F., et al. (2017). "Foliar nitrogen and phosphorus stoichiometry of three wetland plants distributed along an elevation gradient in Dongting Lake, China." Sci Rep 7(1): 2820. Species specific elemental ratio constraint its distribution partially. Then plants spatial distribution can be explained by their stoichiometry.

Asner, Gregory P., and Roberta E. Martin. Spectral and chemical analysis of tropical forests Scaling from leaf to canopy levels. Remote Sensing of Environment 112.10 (2008) 3958-3970. When up-scaling leaf level to canopy level, canopy structure may obstruct leaf traits to fully appear as the form of spectra. Except LAI, however, most canopy structural features had a negligible effect on the spectra created by canopy modeling.