Jean Dauzat

Carbon allocation in fruit trees: from theory to modelling

Carbon allocation within a plant depends on complex rules linking source organs (mainly shoots) and sink organs (mainly roots and fruits). The complexity of these rules comes from both regulations and interactions between various plant processes involving carbon. This paper presents these regulations and interactions, and analyses how agricultural management can influence them. Ecophysiological models of carbon production and allocation are good tools for such analyses. The fundamental bases of these models are first presented, focusing on their underlying processes and concepts. Different approaches are used for modelling carbon economy. They are classified as empirical, teleonomic, driven by source–sink relationships, or based on transport and chemical/biochemical conversion concepts. These four approaches are presented with a particular emphasis on the regulations and interactions between organs and between processes. The role of plant architecture in carbon partitioning is also discussed and the interest of coupling plant architecture models with carbon allocation models is highlighted. As an illustration of carbon allocation models, a model developed for peach trees, describing carbon transfer within the plant, and based on source–sink and Münch transport theory is presented and used for analyzing the link between roots, shoots and reproductive compartments. On this basis, the consequences of fruit load or plant pruning on fruit and vegetative growth can be evaluated.

Simulation of Ecophysiological Processes on 3D Virtual Stands with the ARCHIMED Simulation Platform

Most classic ecophysiological models rely on crude representations of canopies as stacks of vegetation layers. Therefore, their use in complex canopies implies complicated adaptations as well as simplifying assumptions that are difficult to validate. Alternatively, the ARCHIMED simulation platform uses 3D virtual stands as a support for numerical simulations of biophysical processes such as leaf irradiation, transpiration and temperature and ultimately carbon assimilation. By doing so, detailed information can be integrated from the individual leaf scale up to the individual plant scale, even within complex stands such as agroforestry systems. Simple numerical methods are used for solving multiple feedbacks between light, energy, water and CO2 transfers at leaf, plant and plot scales. Numerical calculations applied at different scales allow simple implementation of complex models involving intricate processes.