Hierarchical, Parallel Algorithms for Simulating Plant Response to Environmental Stress (RUI)

PI: Host, George Institution: University of Minnesota Proposal # 9723595 Title: Hierarchical Parallel Algorithms for Simulating Plant Response to Environmental Stress Physiologically-based process models are powerful tools for assessing plant responses to multiple environmental stresses. They capture the intricate behavior of systems governed by non-linear feedbacks, hierarchical constraints, and interacting environmental factors. Devising efficient algorithms for simulating systems defined by thousands of individual elements, however, is a formidable challenge to computational biology. The investigators are developing a series of parallel algorithms for managing multiple computational streams to simulate growth of leaves, stems, and roots over a multi-computer network. Using the inherent hierarchical nature of plant systems, concurrent physiological processes logically nested within the three- dimensional architecture of shoot and root systems.