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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fort Collins, Colorado » Center for Agricultural Resources Research » Rangeland Resources & Systems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #353964
Title: Unified Plant Growth Model (UPGM): Part 2. Component development and integration with agroecosystem models

Author
item Fox, Jr, Fred
item Marquez, Roger
item Wagner, Larry
item McMaster, Gregory
item Edmunds, Debora
item Tatarko, John

Submitted to: American Society of Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/25/2018
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Since the development of the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model in 1988, the EPIC-based plant growth code has been incorporated and modified into many agro-ecosystem models. The goals of the Unified Plant Growth Model (UPGM) project are: 1) integrating into one platform the enhancements from the multiple EPIC-based plant growth models, 2) further enhance the integrated UPGM model, and 3) develop a component that can be more easily linked into other agroecosystem models such as the Wind Erosion Prediction System (WEPS) and Agricultural Ecosystem Services Model (AgES). This talk focuses on the last goal. The overall design of the integrated UPGM component is presented, focusing on the need to adequately represent the plant “growth stages” and “phases” inherent within the original models with a data-driven representation. The modules developed are being constructed following object-oriented constructs to allow the UPGM component to be more modular for facilitating easier integration into other models and allowing for future migration of the code to other languages if desired. Discussion of the actual integration process of the integrated UPGM component into WEPS will be provided. A graphical depiction of stages and phases of several crops is presented with the corresponding physical processes. The incorporation of UPGM into WEPS and AgES is expected to provide more accurate plant growth simulations and thereby better predict wind erosion and hydrology. Development of the standalone UPGM component prototype shows promise for incorporation into other agroecosystem models, and provides greater opportunity for scientists to improve or add specific algorithms in their areas of interest.