Statistical analysis and modeling of root measures for the description of spatiotemporal root patterns, using experimental and simulated image data gained by X-ray CT and root architecture models
Mathematics
Final Report Abstract
Plant roots and soil interact with each other in a wide variety of ways. These interactions, which are mainly focused at the rhizosphere of roots, comprise mechanical, chemical, geological, microbial and other aspects which all depend on the spatially resolved structures of roots and soil. In joint studies with different cooperation partners, various aspects of these interactions were investigated during the period of this project. Beginning with a focus on the architecture and growth of roots, a framework for benchmarking functional-structural root architecture models was developed. With the definition of different benchmark scenarios for assessing root architecture and function separately as well as jointly, this aims at providing other researchers with means to evaluate the performance of their models for root architecture and root-soil interactions. The interactions of roots and soil within the rhizosphere and especially microbially-mediated soil processes were the subject of a second joint publication. Here, it was shown that spatially resolved measurements of soil structures and microbial activity combined with correlative statistics are necessary for a thorough understanding of the underlying soil processes and interactions. Further work focused on the investigation of the influence of the three-dimensional soil microstructure on diffusive transport processes. Based on tomographic image data of different types of soil, numerical simulations were carried out to compute the diffusivity within the pore space of soil. Additionally, different geometric descriptors of the pore space were computed and correlated with diffusivity. Predictive formulas for diffusivity as functions of geometric descriptors were established, which led to a better understanding of how soil microstructure influences transport processes. Within this project, results were obtained as outlined above, which deepened the understanding of interactions between roots and soil and how they are governed by the three-dimensional architecture of roots and the microstructure of soil. Knowledge was obtained from investigations carried out in this project as well as from enabling other researchers to better assess the performance of different root architecture models.
Publications
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Call for participation: Collaborative benchmarking of functional-structural root architecture models. The case of root water uptake. openRxiv.
Schnepf, Andrea; Black, Christopher K.; Couvreur, Valentin; Delory, Benjamin M.; Doussan, Claude; Koch, Axelle; Koch, Timo; Javaux, Mathieu; Landl, Magdalena; Leitner, Daniel; Lobet, Guillaume; Mai, Trung Hieu; Meunier, Félicien; Petrich, Lukas; Postma, Johannes A.; Priesack, Eckart; Schmidt, Volker; Vanderborght, Jan; Vereecken, Harry & Weber, Matthias
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Bridging Microbial Functional Traits With Localized Process Rates at Soil Interfaces. Frontiers in Microbiology, 12.
Blagodatskaya, Evgenia; Tarkka, Mika; Knief, Claudia; Koller, Robert; Peth, Stephan; Schmidt, Volker; Spielvogel, Sandra; Uteau, Daniel; Weber, Matthias & Razavi, Bahar S.
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Quantifying the Impact of 3D Pore Space Morphology on Soil Gas Diffusion in Loam and Sand. Transport in Porous Media, 149(2), 501-527.
Prifling, Benedikt; Weber, Matthias; Ray, Nadja; Prechtel, Alexander; Phalempin, Maxime; Schlüter, Steffen; Vetterlein, Doris & Schmidt, Volker
