Growth simulation for a desert shrub Haloxylon ammodendron

A revised dual-scale automation was developed to simulate plant architecture of a desert shrub, Haloxylon ammodendron, according to its morphological characteristics. The above-ground part was simulated by a basic structural unit of shoot which was simplified from the internodal segment and squama (the degraded leaf). The thermal time, determined by the changes of outer morphology, was used as the simulating time scale for shoot system. For the root system, the basic growth unit which was made up of root segment and lateral meristems, was determined by a given thermal time scale, Based on the basic structural units of shoot and root system, the growth processes of H. ammodendron including shoot system and root system were simulated, and the results were visualized after the parameterization of field observation in the natural habitat.