TITLE:
Simulating Microbial Functional Diversity Dynamics in Agricultural Soils: An Individual Based Modeling Approach
AUTHORS:
Diego Rubio Fernandez, Emiliano Barreto-Hernández
KEYWORDS:
System Dynamics, Soil Microbiota, Agricultural Productivity, Microbial Ecology, Netlogo
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology,
Vol.13 No.3,
March
21,
2022
ABSTRACT: New agricultural soil model approaches based on the
microbiome dynamics must be considered as they can contribute to understand
microbiological soil processes directly linked to substrate metabolism and the
influence of these processes on plant growth. The present work presents an
approach to the modelling of the interactions of the soil microbial functional
diversity with the plant in terms of
functions associated to specific processes of organic Carbon and
Nitrogen metabolism. The substrates transformations arising in the organic
matter that enters as a part of an agricultural scheme are the base for define
this metabolism. As result, it has been possible to simulate a rhizospheric
soil based on the concept of complex system dynamics and Individual Based Modeling
known too as Agent-Based Modeling in an agricultural management context. The
explicit definition of the microbiome functional diversity and the processing
of the structural elements Carbon and Nitrogen, allowed representing the
functional dynamics of this complex system composed by microorganisms, Carbon,
Nitrogen and the plant. The variables that reflect the biology and the
adaptation to the rhizospheric environment characterized the microorganisms and the assemblage community patterns in
time. The main simulations output are system glucose and nitrate levels and an
approach to plant growth, all resultant from the metabolic process of the
considered Carbon and Nitrogen consortia. The results indicate that the microorganism’s diversity assemblages and its
functional expression have a fundamental role in terms of plant growth.