Functional-structural plant modelling

In the last decade, many research teams throughout the world initiated a new approach in plant science by developing computer models of plant functioning and growth. The intention of this approach was to understand the complex interactions between plant architecture and the physical and biological processes that drive the plant development at several spatial and temporal scales, using so-called functional-structural plant models (FSPMs). Explicitly taking into account the spatial distribution of plant organs has multiple consequences: (i) FSPMs are usually associated with 3D plant models where plant architecture is represented as a collection of interconnected plant components, which are distributed in the 3D below- and above-ground space; (ii) FSPMs usually deal with the spatial distribution of both environmental and biological processes; (iii) FSPMs are usually based on scaling up, mostly from the organ to the plant, but also from tissue to organ or from plant to stand; and (iv) to deal with the system complexity owing to the high number of plant constituents, and to deal with the potentially high numbers of interacting processes, FSPMs must develop adequate computational methods. To discuss these questions, in 1996 the FSPM series of workshops (http://amap.cirad.fr/workshop/FSPM04/index.html) was established to assemble regularly from all over the world scientists who integrate 3D representations of plants, physiological models, environmental models, computer science and mathematics into their approach. The general aim of this community is to understand better, through the use of 3D representations, the importance of taking into account the spatialisation of processes in plant functioning and morphogenesis. The FSPM community contributes to unravelling these integrated plant functioning mechanisms and in this issue of New Phytologist we feature a set of papers that address the different aspects and questions raised (Godin et al., 2005), so highlighting the current advances and future directions required.