Phytoclimate: spatial distribution, modeling and coupling with Function-Structure Plant Models

Plant growth and development directly depend on several physical variables, such as light, temperature or humidity and also indirectly through the action of pests (pathogens, insects) or pollutants. This dependency results from biological processes such as photosynthesis, mineral root absorption, stomatal opening, or disease development, responding to these physical variables. These responses are often non linear and vary accordingly to the plant organ (age, type, state). They have been introduced into function-structure plant models (FSPM) to be able to take into account make the plant environment. As FSPMs work at the organ scale, they need a description of physical variables at this organ scale, what is being called the phytoclimate.