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School of Biological Sciences Plant & Soil Science Aberdeen University Cruickshank Building St. Machar Drive Aberdeen, UK AB24 3UU
jo.smith{at}abdn.ac.uk
Lajpat R. Ahuja, Liwang Ma, and Terry A. Howell, Lewis Publishers, CRC Press, 2000 N.W. Corporate Blvd., Boca Raton, FL 33431. 2002. 357 p. $129.95 hardcover. ISBN 1-56670-563-0.
This book includes an introductory chapter by the editors followed by 15 independent contributions from internationally recognized developers of a range of agricultural systems models. The editors assert that the purpose of the book is to present state-of-the-art applications of systems models to agriculture, and demonstrate potential benefits to be derived from the use of these computer models in agriculture. They begin with a promising summary of the current status of whole-system modeling in agriculture, summarizing the most important issues as
A book structured around these issues could have explored most of the important issues in a clear and nonrepetitive way. However, the book continues with a series of case studies in which little or no attempt is made to draw out general principles that can be used by other workers. The book is not structured into sections and, even where chapters have more generic titles, what is presented is the application of a small number of models to specific problems. Attempts to draw out general principles are clouded by the apparent need to describe the inner workings of those specific models. While each contribution is, by itself, a well-written paper of individual interest and merit, the collection of these papers into a book with no clear structure renders them repetitive and parochial.
At last, in Chapters 12, 13, and 14, we return to the more generic issues. In Chapter 12, Sadler et al. summarize the increased challenges encountered in modeling spatial variability of an area as opposed to approximating it to a single point simulation, and describe different approaches used to achieve a spatially variable simulation. In a related discussion in Chapter 13, Ahuja et al. examine topographic analysis with respect to soil and crop yield variability and scaling variability in landscape and climate. In Chapter 14, Ahuja and Ma usefully discuss issues of model parameterization, presenting process-based methods for determining the major soil, crop, and weather parameters, and discussing statistical methods for model calibration.
Unfortunately, Chapter 15 returns to the case-study format, describing the development of an object modeling system. The book ends with a chapter on future research needed to fill knowledge gaps, discussing soil, plant, and atmospheric components and issues of scaling.
The book would be valuable to the developer of model applications, in that it provides a review of some of the current work, but should not be considered a textbook on the subject of agricultural system models in field research and technology transfer. It does indeed present some state-of-the-art case studies of the applications of system models to agriculture, but only in Chapters 12, 13, and 14 does it manage to draw out the principles that make these case studies state-of-the-art. It would serve as a good supplementary text for a researcher already familiar with system model applications.
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