Virtual plants: new perspectives for ecologists, pathologists and
agricultural scientists
Peter Room1,
Jim Hanan1,
and Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz2
1Center for Tropical Pest Management, CSIRO,
Indooroopilly, Queensland, Australia.
2Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary,
Calgary, Canada.
Abstract
A new phase is under way in the study of how plants interact with
their physical and biotic environments. Tools are becoming available
for handling three-dimensional (3-D) information on the development
and growth of individual plants and activities of the organisms which
live on them. These tools will lead to in-depth understanding at the
level of plant architecture, intermediate between what goes on at the
level of plant cells and physiology and the level of plant stands and
biomass. Existing fields of study will be enhanced and new fields
opened. Here, we explain why these developments are important and how
they are taking place.
Reference
Peter Room, Jim Hanan, and Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz:
Virtual plants: new perspectives for ecologists, pathologists and
agricultural scientists. Trends in Plant Science
vol. 1, pp. 33-38.
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