I honestly do not know.
One thing I learned many years ago, and was in my first light article in the newsletter as well, all in all, folks really do not know that much about light and plants.
Internals light environments vs external light sources?
This changes and maybe very different plant to plant.
Spinach(hundreds of cells thick) vs say Hydrilla (2 cells thick only).
Water, angle, turbidity of the water/color etc, and lower light make the environmental factors much different for aquatic plants than those of terrestrial plants. Then there are 400 species to pick and choose from.
Will Riccia's response be different than that of Anubias? Should we compare just fast growing stems or rossette swords? How do we compare?
To answer such questions, we need to be very clever, or do a lot of work, or likely, both.
From a horticultural standpoint, all they use is sunlight, it's "free". So fake light is of little/less use. Tropica uses fake light but they live pretty far north in latitude, so they need supplemental light (longer photoperoid).
Singapore, Florida, etc........not at all.
Given the wide range of habits I've found plats in natural systems, and the wide range we see in aquariums, I'm very hesitant to ascribe cause or blame to observations due to light.
I know they can adapt and must ....to survive.
Which is better for plants?
Sort of hard to say really.
Folks have a loit of trouble getting nutrients/CO2 right so light is troublesome also. I just make an assumption for PAR, like many botantist, and live with it
Maybe later, some folks will do more there.
Regards,
Tom Barr