A study of crown development mechanisms using a shoot-based tree model and segmented terrestrial laser scanning data

Functional–structural plant models (FSPMs) allow simulation of tree crown development as the sum of modular (e.g. shoot-level) responses triggered by the local environmental conditions. The actual process of space filling by the crowns can be studied. Although the FSPM simulations are at organ scale, the data for their validation have usually been at more aggregated levels (whole-crown or whole-tree). Measurements made by terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) that have been segmented into elementary units (internodes) offer a phenotyping tool to validate the FSPM predictions at levels comparable with their detail. We demonstrate the testing of different formulations of crown development of Scots pine trees in the LIGNUM model using segmented TLS data. We made TLS measurements from four sample trees growing in a forest on a relatively poor soil from sapling size to mature stage. The TLS data were segmented into internodes. The segmentation also produced information on whether needles were present in the internode. We applied different formulations of crown development (flushing of buds and length of growth of new internodes) in LIGNUM. We optimized the parameter values of each formulation using genetic algorithms to observe the best fit of LIGNUM simulations to the measured trees. The fitness function in the estimation combined both tree-level characteristics (e.g. tree height and crown length) and measures of crown shape (e.g. spatial distribution of needle area). Comparison of different formulations against the data indicates that the Extended Borchert–Honda model for shoot elongation works best within LIGNUM. Control of growth by local density in the crown was important for all shoot elongation formulations. Modifying the number of lateral buds as a function of local density in the crown was the best way to accomplish density control. It was demonstrated how segmented TLS data can be used in the context of a shoot-based model to select model components.