Unlike most other crops, such as cereals and row crops, vineyards and orchards (tree crops) are characterized by wide rows and tall canopies with the biomass strongly clumped in the upper half of the plants. This unique configuration strongly influences how these highly structured crops interact with their environment and suggests that the methods commonly used to monitor the interactions between plants and their environment (e.g., the exchange of heat, moisture and carbon dioxide, the interception of sunlight) may not be directly applicable. This session focuses on both recent advances in measuring and modeling the interactions of vineyards, orchards, and other highly organized crops with the environment and how that interplay is influenced by the characteristic organizational structure of these perennial crops. This includes not only the development or refinement of in-situ and remote sensing-based measurement techniques, but also advances in the understanding of the physical processes controlling the interactions of these crops with their environment. Submissions discussing the application of these advances to address the operational needs of growers such as irrigation decisions, disease and pest management, yield prediction, and crop quality, are also strongly encouraged.
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