Impact of Topology on Plant Functioning: A Theoretical Analysis Based on the GreenLab Model Equations

A growing interest emerges for the application of plant functional-structural models to study the influence of topological development on plant growth. This kind of study is classically done through virtual experiments on simulated plants to analyze the effects of architectural changes on the model outputs. In this paper, we take advantage of the mathematical formalism developed for describing plant structure and growth in the GreenLab model to perform a theoretical analysis of the importance of topological development for plant functioning. Using the basic formulation of the model, it is possible to solve analytically the equation giving the limit biomass production under stable environment and to estimate the sensitivity of this limit value to the parameters of topological development. Reciprocally, we analyze the conditions under which plants with different architectures can have the same trajectory of biomass production in models based on Beer-Lambert-like formulations.