Winfried Kurth, Branislav Sloboda. (1997). Growth grammars simulating trees – an extension of L-systems incorporating local variables and sensitivity. Silva Fennica vol. 31 no. 3 article id 5626. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a8527

Keywords: tree growth; competition; allocation; morphology; tree architecture; L-systems; sensitivity; tree structure

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The rule-based formal language of "stochastic sensitive growth grammars" was designed to describe algorithmically the changing morphology of forest trees during their lifetime under the impact of endogenous and exogenous factors, and to generate 3-D simulations of tree structures in a systematic manner. The description in the form of grammars allows the precise specification of structural models with functional components. These grammars (extended L-systems) can be interpreted by the software GROGRA (Growth grammar interpreter) yielding time series of attributed 3-D structures representing plants. With some recent extensions of the growth-grammar language (sensitive functions, local variables) it is possible to model environmental control of shoot growth and some simple allocation strategies, and to obtain typical competition effects in tree stands qualitatively in the model.

Kurth, E-mail: wk@mm.unknown
Sloboda, E-mail: bs@mm.unknown

Category : Research article

article id 450, category Research article

Miaoer Lu, Pekka Nygren, Jari Perttunen, Stephen G. Pallardy, David R. Larsen. (2011). Application of the functional-structural tree model LIGNUM to growth simulation of short-rotation eastern cottonwood. Silva Fennica vol. 45 no. 3 article id 450. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.450

Keywords: Populus deltoides; carbon allocation; L-system; photon flux interception; photosynthetic production; voxel model

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

The functional-structural tree growth model LIGNUM was developed as a general research tool that can be applied to several tree species. The growth simulation of short-rotation eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides Bartr. ex Marsh.) inherits the basic LIGNUM modeling concepts including modular tree structure, L-system-based description of structural development, and carbon budget. New developments of LIGNUM model in this study were the incorporation of a biochemically-derived photosynthesis submodel; nested time steps for simulating physiological processes, structural development, and annual biomass production; incorporation of field-measured weather data for modeling the response of physiological processes to environmental variation; and application of a Monte-Carlo voxel space submodel for simulating the stochasticity of tree growth and improving computational efficiency. A specific parameter system was applied for modeling P. deltoides growth in the central Missouri, USA, environment. This adaptation of LIGNUM was applied on modeling growth of P. deltoides in a short-rotation agroforestry practice. The simulated height and biomass growth were close to field observations. Visualization of simulation results closely resembled the trees growing in an open site. The simulated response of tree growth to variations in photon flux input was reasonable. The LIGNUM model may be used as a complement to field studies on P. deltoides in short-rotation forestry and agroforestry.

Lu, Deparment of Forestry, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA E-mail: ml@nn.us
Nygren, The Finnish Society of Forest Science, P.O. 18, FI-01301 Vantaa, Finland E-mail: pekka.nygren@metla.fi
Perttunen, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa, Finland E-mail: jp@nn.fi
Pallardy, Deparment of Forestry, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA E-mail: sgp@nn.us
Larsen, Deparment of Forestry, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA E-mail: drl@nn.us

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