Articles containing the keyword 'architecture'

A new approach for modelling plant growth using the software AMAPpara is presented. This software takes into consideration knowledge about plant architecture which has been accumulated at the Plant Modelling Unit of CIRAD for several years, and introduces physiological concepts in order to simulate the dynamic functioning of trees. The plant is considered as a serial connection of vegetative organs which conduct water from the roots to the leaves. Another simple description of the plant as a network of parallel pipes is also presented which allows an analytical formulation of growth to be written. This recurring formula is used for very simple architectures and is useful to understand the role of each organ in water transport and assimilate production. Growth simulations are presented which show the influence of modifications in architecture on plant development.

• de Reffye, E-mail: pd@mm.unknown
• Barthélémy, E-mail: db@mm.unknown
• Blaise, E-mail: fb@mm.unknown
• Fourcaud, E-mail: tf@mm.unknown
• Houllier, E-mail: fh@mm.unknown

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

The model HYDRA, which simulates water flow in the branched tree architecture, is characterized. Empirical studies of the last decades give strong evidence for a close structure-function linkage in the case of tree water flow. Like stomatal regulation, spatial patterns of leaf specific conductivity can be regarded as a strategy counteracting conductivity losses, which may arise under drought. Branching-oriented water flow simulation may help to understand how damaging and compensating mechanisms interact within the hydraulic network of trees. Furthermore, a coupling of hydraulic to morphological modelling is a prerequisite if water flow shall be linked to other processes. Basic assumptions of the tree water flow model HYDRA are mass conservation, Darcy's law and the spatial homogeneity of capacitance and axial conductivity. Soil water potential is given as a one-sided border condition. Water flow is driven by transpiration. For unbranched regions these principles are condensed to a nonlinear diffusion equation, which serves as a continuous reference for the discrete method tailored to the specific features of the hydraulic network. The mathematical derivation and model tests indicate that the realization of the basic assumptions is reproducible and sufficiently exact. Moreover, structure and function are coupled in a flexible and computationally efficient manner. Thus, HYDRA may serve as a tool for the comparative study of different tree architectures in terms of hydraulic function.

• Früh, E-mail: tf@mm.unknown

A method for the measurement of the three-dimensional (3D) architecture of trees was applied to describe two 20-year-old walnut trees, one of them is a timber tree while the other is a fruit tree. The method works at the shoot level and simultaneously describes the plant topology, the plant geometry and the shoot morphology. The method uses a 3D digitiser (3SPACE® FASTRAK®, Polhemus Inc.) associated with software DiplAmi designed for digitiser control and data acquisition management. Plant images may be reconstructed from the data set by using the ray tracing software POV-Ray. Visual comparison between photographs of the walnut trees and images synthesised from digitising was satisfactory. Distribution of basal shoot diameter, as well as leaf area and fruit distributions for both the timber and the fruit tree were non-uniformly distributed in the crown volume. Gradients were likely to be related to the light distribution within the tree. This is in agreement with previous experimental results on several tree species, and also with the predictions of tree architecture models based on light-vegetation interactions.

• Sinoquet, E-mail: hs@mm.unknown
• Godin, E-mail: cg@mm.unknown
• Rivet, E-mail: pr@mm.unknown

The development of shoot number and shoot properties was examined in successive shoot cohorts of young widely-spaced Scots pine trees (Pinus sylvestris L.) growing in a progeny trial. This was accomplished by reconstructing the branching process of the trees over a period of five years, from tree age 4 to 8. During this time the number of shoots in successive shoot cohorts increased rapidly, while at the same time the mean shoot length decreased. The decrease in shoot lengths from older to younger shoots was accompanied by a decline in the bifuraction frequency of the shoots. In general, rapid changes occurred in the branching characteristics during the yearly development of the trees. The variation in the branching characteristics was reflected in the development of the architecture and biomass production of the trees.

The PDF includes an abstract in Finnish.

• Kuuluvainen, E-mail: tk@mm.unknown

The architecture of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) was studied in an eight-year-old progeny test. The measurements included characteristics of crown structure, spatial distribution of shoots and yield components. The spatial distribution of shoots showed striking between-tree differences, and two extreme distribution patterns were detected. One represented a non-layered structure with a vertically relative even shoot distribution, and the other a layered structure with a vertically highly uneven shoot distribution.

Close correlations existed between several components of tree architecture and it is suggested that changes in the phenotypic architecture in Scots pine follow an epigenetic pattern, which enables the prediction of adaptational changes in structural components. The structural characteristics related to high above-ground biomass were a long crown, high total shoot length, high number of branches per whorl and big shoots of low needle density occupying a big share of the crown volume.

The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.

• Kuuluvainen, E-mail: tk@mm.unknown
• Kanninen, E-mail: mk@mm.unknown
• Salmi, E-mail: js@mm.unknown

The paper presents aspects of town and forest architecture. A feature of the Finnish building tradition is that the forest is allowed to grow next to buildings. After the Second World War a new type of town was created in Finland, ”the forest town”. The most prominent feature of the history of Finnish architecture, from national romanticism to functionalism and up to the present day, is the modification of international ideals to a certain ”forest culture” style.

The paper is based on a lecture given in the seminar ‘The forest as a Finnish cultural entity’, held in Helsinki in 1986. The PDF includes a summary in English.

• Pallasmaa, E-mail: jp@mm.unknown

The article describes the two approaches which are evident in planning and management of nature and landscape. One is based on traditional architectural thinking, emphasizing the significance of subjective intuition and practical creative work. The other has evolved from the study of the economic utilization of natural resources, emphasizing the significance of rational thinking and scientific analysis.

This paper was presented in the ‘Man and the Biosphere’ programme project 2 seminar held on August 24–25 1978 in Hyytiälä research station of University of Helsinki.

The PDF includes a summary in English.

• Simons, E-mail: ts@mm.unknown

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) has been applied to estimate forest wood volume based on detailed 3D tree reconstructions from point cloud data. However, sources of uncertainties in the point cloud data (alignment and scattering errors, occlusion, foliage...) and the reconstruction algorithm type and parameterisation are known to affect the reconstruction, especially around finer branches. To better understand the impacts of these uncertainties on the accuracy of TLS-derived woody volume, high-quality TLS scans were collected in leaf-off conditions prior to destructive harvesting of two forest-grown common ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior L.; diameter at breast height ~28 cm, woody volume of 732 and 868 L). We manually measured branch diameters at 265 locations in these trees. Estimates of branch diameters and tree volume from Quantitative Structure Models (QSM) were compared with these manual measurements. The accuracy of QSM branch diameter estimates decreased with smaller branch diameters. Tree woody volume was overestimated (+336 L and +392 L) in both trees. Branches measuring < 5 cm in diameter accounted for 80% and 83% of this overestimation respectively. Filtering for scattering errors or improved coregistration approximately halved the overestimation. Range filtering and modified scanning layouts had mixed effects. The small branch overestimations originated primarily in limitations in scanner characteristics and coregistration errors rather than suboptimal QSM parameterisation. For TLS-derived estimates of tree volume, a higher quality point cloud allows smaller branches to be accurately reconstructed. Additional experiments need to elucidate if these results can be generalised beyond the setup of this study.

• Demol, CAVElab – Computational and Applied Vegetation Ecology, Department of Environment, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium; PLECO – Plants and Ecosystems, Faculty of Science, Antwerp University, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5492-2874 E-mail: miro.demol@ugent.be
• Wilkes, UCL Department of Geography, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK; NERC National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO), UK https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6048-536X E-mail: p.wilkes@ucl.ac.uk
• Raumonen, Mathematics, Tampere University, FI-33101 Tampere, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5471-0970 E-mail: pasi.raumonen@tuni.fi
• Krishna Moorthy, CAVElab – Computational and Applied Vegetation Ecology, Department of Environment, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6838-2880 E-mail: Sruthi.KrishnaMoorthyParvathi@ugent.be
• Calders, CAVElab – Computational and Applied Vegetation Ecology, Department of Environment, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4562-2538 E-mail: kim.calders@ugent.be
• Gielen, PLECO – Plants and Ecosystems, Faculty of Science, Antwerp University, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4890-3060 E-mail: bert.gielen@uantwerpen.be
• Verbeeck, CAVElab – Computational and Applied Vegetation Ecology, Department of Environment, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1490-0168 E-mail: hans.verbeeck@ugent.be

• Hou, Department of Life Sciences, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China E-mail: yh@nn.cn
• Qu, Department of Life Sciences, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China E-mail: jq@nn.cn
• Luo, School of Environment and Life Sciences, Kaili University, Kaili, China E-mail: zl@nn.cn
• Zhang, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Urbanization and Ecological Restoration, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China, and University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Joensuu, Finland E-mail: cz@nn.cn
• Wang, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Urbanization and Ecological Restoration, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China, and University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Joensuu, Finland E-mail: kywang@re.ecnu.edu.cn