The goal of this study was to explore how leaf and canopy level differences interact in determining total canopy productivity. Maximum rates of carbon gain and transpiration were found to be higher in leaves of the deciduous oak Quercus lobata than in the co-occurring evergreen oak Quercus agrifolia. However, the efficiency of water and nitrogen use is greater in leaves of Q. agrifolia. A biochemically based model of annual leaf photosynthesis using environmental field data indicates that the evergreen habit in Q. agrifolia partially compensates for the lower photosynthetic capacity of leaves and increases the amount of photosynthate produced per unit water or nitrogen. Simulations indicate that with low N or water availability, the evergreen species can produce canopies with greater annual production than the deciduous species; the converse is true at higher levels of resource supply. Some of the patterns of distribution of these species in northern California [USA] may be explained by examining the relationships between resource availability and estimated annual production.