FRACTAL MODELING OF ROOTS AND SOIL TO MONITOR EFFECTS OF ELEVATED ATMOSPHERIC CARBON DIOXIDE

THREE-DIMENSIONAL DATA ON THE GEOMETRY OF SELECTED PLANT SPECIES ROOTS AND SOIL MEASURED IN SITU USING A NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE (NMR) IMAGING TECHNIQUE WILL BE OBTAINED FROM THE USDA-ARS NATIONAL SOIL DYNAMICS LABORATORY. THE DATA WILL BE PROCESSED FOR INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC DISPLAY ON A SUN WORKSTATION. THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL FRACTAL MODELING EXTENSION TO THE VRIFS(TM) IMAGE SYNTHESIS SYSTEM WILL BE USED TO CONSTRUCT ROOT TEMPLATES AND ASSOCIATED MODELS CORRESPONDING TO NMR DATA. THE TEMPLATES WILL BE USED TO QUANTIFY THE GEOMETRY AND STRUCTURE OF THE ROOTS AND THE SURROUNDING SOIL. IN CONSULTATION WITH PLANT PHYSIOLOGISTS WITH SPECIFIC EXPERTISE IN ROOT BIOLOGY, THE FEASIBILITY OF SEPARATING OUT MODEL PARAMETERS THAT VARY WITH CHANGES IN AMBIENT CARBON DIOXIDE LEVELS WILL BE INVESTIGATED. THE MEASURED FRACTAL MODEL PARAMETERS, TOGETHER WITH AN ANALYSISOF THE BENEFITS AND MEANS FOR CONTINUING WORK IN THIS DIRECTION, WILL BE PRESENTED IN A FINAL REPORT.