Feedback on Innovative Pedagogy for teaching Systems Modeling

International audienceThis paper presents a feedback on a new core course on "Systems modeling-Model representations and analysis" of the new curriculum of CentraleSupélec. Dedicated to all the first year students, this course stands as the main prerequisite for an important part of the curriculum. Thus its fruition is essential. Multiple challenges have been overcome: (i) propose a high level academic program for more than 800 engineering students with initial heterogeneous levels in systems modeling; (ii) make the course easy-understandable and attractive for students, while allowing interactions students-to-students and students-to-professors; (iii) guarantee the consistency with the entire curriculum; (iv) manage the time constraints imposed by the course schedule

Impact of topology on plant functioning : a theoretical analysis based on the GreenLab model equations

International audienceA growing interest emerges for the application of plant functional-structural models to study the influence of topological development on plant growth. This kind of study is classically done through virtual experiments on simulated plants to analyze the effects of architectural changes on the model outputs. In this paper, we take advantage of the mathematical formalism developped for describing plant structure and growth in the GreenLab model to perform a theoretical analysis of the importance of topological development for plant functioning. Using the basic formulation of the model, it is possible to solve analytically the equation giving the limit biomass production under stable environment and to estimate the sensitivity of this limit value to the parameters of topological development. Reciprocally, we analyze the conditions under which plants with different architectures can have the same trajectory of biomass production in models based on Beer-Lambert-like formulations

Preliminary Functional-Structural Modeling on Poplar (Salicaceae)

Poplar is one of the best fast-growing trees in the world, widely used for windbreak and wood product. Although architecture of poplar has direct impact on its applications, it has not been descried in previous poplar models, probably because of the difficulties raised by measurement, data processing and parameterization. In this paper, the functional-structural model GreenLab is calibrated by using poplar data of 3, 4, 5, 6 years old. The data was acquired by simplifying measurement. The architecture was also simplified by classifying the branches into several types (physiological age) using clustering analysis, which decrease the number of parameters. By multi-fitting the sampled data of each tree, the model parameters were identified and the plant architectures at different tree ages were simulated

Modeling branching effects on source-sink relationships of the cotton plant

International audienceCompared with classical process-based models, the functional-structural plant models provide more efficient tools to explore the impact of changes in plant structures on plant functioning. In this paper we investigated the effects of branches on the sourcesink interaction for the cotton plant (Gossypium hirsutum L.) based on a two-treatment experiment conducted on cotton grown in the field: the singlestem plants and the plants with only two vegetative branches. It was observed that the branched cotton had more organs for the whole plant but the organs on the trunk were smaller than those on the single-stem cotton. The phytomer production of the branches was four or five growth cycles delayed compared with the main stem. The organs on the trunk had similar dynamics of expansion for both treatments. Effects of branches were evaluated by using the functionalstructural model GREENLAB. It allowed estimating the coefficients of sink strength to differentiate the biomass acquisition abilities of organs between different physiological ages. We found that the presence of the two vegetative branches increased the ground projection area of plant leaves and had led to slight changes on the directly measured parameters; the potential relative sink strengths of organs were found similar for the two treatments

Applying GreenLab Model to Adult Chinese Pine Trees with Topology Simplification

International audienceThis paper applied the functional structural model GreenLab to adult Chinese pine trees (pinus tabulaeformis Carr.). Basic hypotheses of the model were validated such as constant allometry rules, relative sink relationships and topology simplification. To overcome the limitations raised by the complexity of tree structure for collecting experimental data, a simplified pattern of tree description was introduced and compared with the complete pattern for the computational time and the parameter accuracy. The results showed that this simplified pattern was well adapted to fit adult trees with GreenLab

Simulation of morphological plasticity of Acacia tortilis in response to herbivore attacks

International audienceUnderstanding tree architectural plasticity is a major challenge. Functional-structural models can be of great interest to quantify the allocation patterns and their changes according to environment. In this paper, we focus on Acacia tortilis trees in savanna to understand their responses to herbivore attacks both in terms of architecture and allocation pattern. Measurements were carried out in Hwange National Park (Zimbabwe) in 2008. Architectural and biomass data were analysed to quantify the effects of herbivore attacks on plant morphogenesis, and trees were gathered in two groups depending on the intensity of herbivore attacks they suffered. Based on these results, a simple model of herbivore attacks has been implemented and parameters have been estimated in the framework of the GreenLab model and we simulate different realistic behaviours according to the intensity of herbivore attacks

Comparison between empirical or functional sinks of organs - Application on Tomato plant

International audienceBiomass partitioning among organs depends on their sink strengths, i.e. their capacity to attract assimilates. Using a descriptive approach, where plant development is driven by thermal time, and empirical laws fitted from experimental data, it is possible to trace back by inverse method the dynamics of biomass partitioning among organs. However, the descriptive sink function suffers from the drawbacks that organ development and biomass accumulation are not interactively related. Moreover, many parameters are required and are difficult to be measured accurately. In this paper an alternative organ sink strength definition is proposed, in which the organ sink size is related to the maximum organ biomass, which in turn depends on its primordium size. The sink strength increases proportionally to its size at the early growth stage and decreases by dampening when its mass approaches the final mass. Comparisons to the standard empirical sink function used in the GreenLab model were conducted on tomato plants. The new functional sinks are more biologically relevant and simulated rather adequately the organ biomass evolution. Further improvement is ongoing to increase simulation accuracy

Analysis of Cecropia sciadophylla Morphogenesis Based on a Sink-Source Dynamic Model

International audienceAlthough there is an increasing number of models simulating the functional and structural development of trees at organ scale, few of them can be fully calibrated, evaluated and validated. A major obstacle resides in the intrinsic complexity of trees due to their high stature, large number of organs and long life span that limits the possibilities of experimental work and the access to measurement data. This is why 'model plants' such as the neotropical genus Cecropia are of great interest. This genus has a simple architecture and some qualities that allow collecting exhaustive datasets at the organ scale. In this paper, we evaluate the GreenLab model on data recorded on 11 individuals measured in 2007 in French Guiana. The branching and flowering patterns are analyzed using an index of trophic competition

Predicting tomato water consumption in a hydroponic greenhouse: contribution of light interception models

In recent years, hydroponic greenhouse cultivation has gained increasing popularity: the combination of hydroponics’ highly efficient use of resources with a controlled environment and an extended growing season provided by greenhouses allows for optimized, year-round plant growth. In this direction, precise and effective irrigation management is critical for achieving optimal crop yield while ensuring an economical use of water resources. This study explores techniques for explaining and predicting daily water consumption by utilizing only easily readily available meteorological data and the progressively growing records of the water consumption dataset. In situations where the dataset is limited in size, the conventional purely data-based approaches that rely on statistically benchmarking time series models tend to be too uncertain. Therefore, the objective of this study is to explore the potential contribution of crop models’ main concepts in constructing more robust models, even when plant measurements are not available. Two strategies were developed for this purpose. The first strategy utilized the Greenlab model, employing reference parameter values from previously published papers and re-estimating, for identifiability reasons, only a limited number of parameters. The second strategy adopted key principles from crop growth models to propose a novel modeling approach, which involved deriving a Stochastic Segmentation of input Energy (SSiE) potentially absorbed by the elementary photosynthetically active parts of the plant. Several model versions were proposed and adjusted using the maximum likelihood method. We present a proof-of-concept of our methodology applied to the ekstasis Tomato, with one recorded time series of daily water uptake. This method provides an estimate of the plant’s dynamic pattern of light interception, which can then be applied for the prediction of water consumption. The results indicate that the SSiE models could become valuable tools for extracting crop information efficiently from routine greenhouse measurements with further development and testing. This, in turn, could aid in achieving more precise irrigation management