L-PEACH, an L-systems based model for simulating architecture, carbohydrate source-sink interactions and physiological responses of growing trees

Abstract

Carbohydrate partitioning is closely coupled with plant growth and architecture, and therefore constitutes an important aspect of the functional-structural modelling of plants. L-PEACH is an L-systembased tree simulation model that combines supply/demand concepts of carbon partitioning with a developmental model of tree architecture. The model is expressed in terms of modules that represent plant organs. An organ may correspond to one or more elementary sources or sinks for carbohydrates. The whole plant is modelled as a branching network of these sources and sinks, connected by conductive elements. An analogy to an electric network is used to calculate the flow and partitioning of carbohydrates between the individual components. It can simulate multiple years of tree growth while capturing the effects of irrigation, crop load and pruning on carbon partitioning and the dynamics of architectural development. The growing tree can be visualized in a schematic or semi-realistic manner, while quantitative data characterizing individual organs, organ types or the whole tree can be output for visualization and analysis to an external program, such as MATLAB.