ABSTRACT

The comprehensive development and use of plant and animal dynamic simulation models started with the availability of the computer in the early 1970s. By the end of the twentieth century several thousand computer-based plant and animal dynamic simulation models were developed to expand sci­ entific insight into complex biological and environmental systems. Both simple and complex models are now available. In some cases, simple mod­ els are not appropriate because they are not programmed to address a partic­ ular phenomenon. In other cases, complex models are not appropriate be­ cause they may require inputs that are not practical to obtain in a field situation (Boote, Jones, and Pickering, 1996; Jorgensen, 1999). In a review of agrometeorology over the last two centuries, Decker (1994) described a progression from a descriptive science to a modeling approach based on an­ alytical procedures using biological and physical processes.