-Harold van Es

COMPETE is a dynamic simulation model developed to simulate the competition for soil nitrogen (N), soil moisture and solar radiation between a main crop (e.g., maize (Zea mays L.)) and one or more ‘weed’ species. (Note that ‘weed’ is broadly defined to include any species potentially competing with the main crop for resources, including, for example, a cover crop seeded within the main crop prior to harvest of that crop.) The COMPETE model was developed by Dr. Andres Gustavo Berger Ricca as part of his dissertation work with Professor Susan Riha (“Competition for above and below ground resources among annual species from the plant to the field: Quantification, analysis and modeling”; Cornell University, 2009). It is a compilation of three well developed models: model processes from two plant/crop growth models, and processes from a soil process model. These processes have been modified and new components added in COMPETE by Dr. Berger for more robust simulations of plant growth and competition. The COMPETE model has been made available by Jeff Melkonian through GitHub.

If you are interested in using the model, you can access it from GitHub after registering, and then emailing Jeff your username for access to the repository.  More information is copied below (from Jeff Melkonian).

Accessing the COMPETE-model organization on GitHub:

In order to access the COMPETE-model organization, we will need your GitHub username. If you don’t already have one, you can create one by providing a username and password at https://github.com/ and clicking on the ‘Sign up for GitHub’ button. We can then use your username to give you access to the organization.

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The organization (COMPETE-model) consists of three repositories:

• COMPETE-model-2021 (the current version / the code is fully functional)
• COMPETE-model-2011 (earlier version / for reference)
• COMPETE-model-2009 (original model / for reference)

‘COMPETE-model-2021’ repository has the code for the current version of COMPETE (‘scr’), and a README.md document that has a User agreement,  step-by-step instructions for setting up the environment to run this version of COMPETE, and information on how to set up and run a simulation. It also has a ‘docs’ folder (see below) with information on new features in the current version, explanations of key parts of the code/modules, and information on running post-simulation analyses, etc. I would definitely recommend briefly reviewing these docs.  Note that this is the version that should be used for simulations.

The two other repositories (‘COMPETE-model-2011’ and ‘COMPETE-model-2009’) have code for the original model (2009) and a modification of the original created in 2011. Each of these repositories has a short README document also with a User agreement as well as providing some background information. These older model versions are for reference only. A user could potentially run these models but this would likely require a different set-up procedure.

I’ll be updating the documents and correcting any errors in them. Please let me know if you see something in those docs (or README.md files) that doesn’t make sense or have any questions about.

The docs folder in the COMPETE-model-2021 repository contains the following:

• ‘Descriptions_of_key_COMPETE_modules’;

These next two documents (‘Code changes to the original COMPETE model’ and ‘Explanatory documents related to changes to the original COMPETE model’) are particularly important since they include changes to the input and output files that may be of particular interest. This includes allowing users to specify some number of plants in the plot where detailed radiation interception data will be generated and outputted.

• ‘Code changes to the original COMPETE model’: This shows the edits and additions to the code that have been made since 2011.
• ‘Explanatory documents related to changes to the original COMPETE model’: This document provides background and descriptions of the code changes since 2011.
• ‘Post-simulation analysis information’: This document describes application of the python module ‘analy.py’ for post-simulation processing of the pickled output dictionary from the python module ‘m_parallel.py’ in the COMPETE model.
• ‘Example_of_output.csv_file_created_when_running_run_post_analysis_interactive_python_module_for_processing_output_pickle_file’: This is a .csv file with parameters that we selected for outputting from analy.py. Note that users can modify analy.py and the code in m_parallel.py defining the parameters for output to analy.py in the pickle file for their own applications.
• ‘Trace documents_Order_of_module_and_function_calls_in_COMPETE’: This is a text file that gives the order of calls during two days of a COMPETE simulation: pre-anthesis and post-anthesis where the main crop is maize. This is very useful for understanding model flow. It can be used, for example, to diagnose errors or unusual output.

We may periodically update or edit these files. If so, the edited files will be uploaded to the appropriate repository and a record of any uploads will be available to all users.

If you, any of your students, or others might be interested in using the model, just send me the username(s) you would like registered to access the COMPETE-model organization. Also, let me know if you have any questions, etc.

Jeff