Dr Emma Carrié

As part of my PhD, I hypothesized that light, as an energy source and signal, plays a critical role in the processes of vegetative bud break, leaf fall and axis mortality in mango tree, and that incorporating these effects into the functional-structural plant model (FSPM) V-Mango, could lead to a significant improvement in model outputs. To evaluate this hypothesis, I studied the functional relationships between light quantity and quality in mature mango tree crowns. I also characterized and modelled the effects of architecture, light, and pruning on axis appearance and disappearance. Finally, all of these results were integrated into V-Mango after coupling it with a light interception model and the model outputs were successfully validated at the axis and whole tree scales.