THIS PROJECT AIMS TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE PRODUCTION OF RESILIENT MAIZE AND WHEAT PLANTS, I.E. PLANTS THAT ARECAPABLE OF MAINTAINING STABLE AND CONSISTENT YIELDS DESPITE THE HARSHER AND MORE VARIABLE CONDITIONS THAT WE EXPECT TO SEE AS CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRESSES.DEVELOPING A WELL-ADAPTED CROP VARIETY OR CULTIVAR CAN TAKE DECADES, REQUIRING MULTIPLE CYCLES OF CROP GROWTH AND SELECTION AND BREEDING OF SUCCESSFUL PLANTS. BY SIMULATING THIS PROCESS ON THE COMPUTER, WE CAN REDUCE THIS AMOUNT OF TIME TO MINUTES, ALLOWING STREAMLINED SELECTION OF PLANTS AND MORE RAPID ADAPTATION TO OUR CHANGING CLIMATE. IT ALSO FREES US FROM PRACTICAL CONSTRAINTS SUCH AS COST AND TIME, AND LETS US TEST ENTIRELY NEW IDEAS, INSTEAD OF RELYING ON TRAITS THAT ALREADY EXIST IN PLANTS.THIS PROJECT DEVELOPS A MODEL THAT TAKES IN DATA ABOUT THE WEATHER AND SOIL CONDITIONS IN A SPECIFIC LOCATION AND USES THIS TO PREDICT HOW MUCH A SPECIFIC PLANT WOULD YIELD. IT COMBINES THIS WITH AN ALGORITHM THAT CAN GENERATE MULTIPLE DIFFERENT INDIVIDUAL PLANTS BY CHANGING SPECIFIC PLANT TRAITS, SUCH AS THE DEPTH OF ROOT GROWTH. THE ALGORITHM RANDOMLY GENERATES A PLANT, WHICH IS ARTIFICIALLY 'GROWN' BY THE PLANT GROWTH MODEL TO PREDICT HOW WELL ITCOULD YIELD IN A SPECIFCLOCATION AND CLIMATE. THEN, IN THE SAME WAY THAT PLANT BREEDERS TAKE SEEDS FROM THE BEST-GROWING PLANTS FOR NEXT YEAR'S CROP, THE ALGORITHMRECORDS INFORMATION ON THE BEST-YIELDING PLANTS AND USES THIS TO CREATE ANOTHER SET OF PLANTS WITH SIMILAR TRAITS, WHICHWILL HOPEFULLY BE AS GOOD OR EVEN BETTER THAN THEIR 'PARENTS'.CURRENTLY, THE ALGORITHM CREATES NEW PLANTS BY CHANGING THE DENSITY OF ROOTS IN EACH LAYER OF SOIL. THIS AFFECTS HOW MUCH WATER THE PLANT WILL BE ABLE TO TAKE UP, AND SUBSEQUENTLY HOW MUCH IT CAN GROW AND YIELD. THIS WILL ALLOW US TO IDENTIFY WHETHER CERTAIN ROOT DENSITY PROFILES INCREASE RESILIENCE OF A CROP UNDER DROUGHT CONDITIONS, INDICATING IT MAY BE BENEFICIAL TO GROW IN DROUGHT-PRONE AREAS. WE INTEND TO INVESTIGATE WHETHER THESE DENSITY PROFILES ARE AFFECTED BY THE SOIL TEXTURE, SOIL DEPTH, TYPE OF PLANT, AND RAINFALL PATTERNS.EVENTUALLY, WE PROPOSE TO FURTHER EXTEND THE MODEL TO INCORPORATE MORE VARIABLES SUCH AS NITROGEN DYNAMICS, WHICH WILL ALLOW US TO SEE IF CHANGING THE ROOT DENSITY ALSO AFFECTS NITROGEN RECOVERY. WE WILL GENERATE HYPOTHETICAL 'OPTIMAL' MAIZE AND WHEAT ROOT PHENOTYPES THAT ARE PREDICTED TO MAXIMIZE ONE OR MORE OBJECTIVES (WATER UPTAKE, NITROGEN UPTAKE, YIELD, OVERALL SURVIVAL ETC.) FOR DIVERSE CLIMATES AND SOILS SUCH AS THE GREAT PLAINS, PALOUSE, AND ETHIOPIA. THESE PREDICTIONS COULD BE USED TO STREAMLINE THE SEARCH FOR BENEFICIAL TRAITS IN EXISTING CROPS, IDENTIFYING PHENOTYPES THAT CAN BE USED TO DEVELOP CROPS THAT SHOW GREATER RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE VARIABILITY.