CrossTalk: A Simulation Platform for the Linking of Existing Soil, Plant and Atmosphere Models

The recycling of existing soil, plant and atmosphere models to simulate soil-plant-atmosphere systems faces two important issues: the connection of several models allowing true multi-disciplinary simulations and the organisation of a core of functionalities that are common to many simulations. We propose a design pattern, based on a set of communication rules and relationships, which allows the combination of sub- models operating at various spatial and temporal scales (a plant model may drive cellular models of meristematic activity and whole-plant models of C transport). This idea is implemented in a new simulation platform (CrossTalk) illustrated here with a simulation linking a soil water-transport model (WAVE, Fortran), a shoot architecture model (MacTom, C) and a root architecture model (RootTyp, Java), none of which had been designed with the intention to be used as Lego blocks in a larger simulation framework.