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Assessing leaf level processes in the context of other hierarchical levels (e.g., whole-plant, canopy, species, and landscape) is a current focus of ecophysiologists, and a discipline requiring additional research. The primary study objective was to examine foliar responses to light gradients (i.e., photosynthetically active radiation, PAR) across different species, age classes, and vertical positions in two landscapes: the northern deciduous forests of Wisconsin (CNF) and the Ozark highlands of southeastern Missouri (Ozarks). We measured the photosynthetic response of several light curve characteristics (e.g., maximum photosynthetic rate (Amax), stomatal conductance at Amax (gsmax), apparent quantum yield (f), and compensation point (G), and dark respiration rate (RD)) changes in microclimate (e.g., vapor pressure deficit (VPD), temperature, and fraction of PAR intercepted (fPAR)), leaf (e.g., SPAD chlorophyll concentration, (SCL)), and canopy characteristics (e.g., canopy openness) of ten tree species in two climatically different landscapes. Species include bigtooth aspen, paper birch, red oak, red maple and sugar maple (CNF) and shortleaf pine, hickory, scarlet, black, and white oaks (Ozarks). Three stand age classes (i.e., young, intermediate, and mature) were measured for all species in CNF. Stand age (CNF), species, and canopy position significantly affected a majority of the photosynthetic characteristics (a = 0.10). Furthermore, photosynthetic characteristics of shade intolerant species were typically greater than shade tolerant (p