An active-medium model of organic substance transformation in soil and its dynamic properties

An analysis of the behaviour of the soil system considered as an active medium with distributed energy sources was undertaken. This approach enabled the authors to build a heuristic model of soil which accounts for processes of organic substance production, migration and utilisation. The soil body is presented as a spatially distributed trophic chain with non-linear interactions of adjacent links. The level of this non-linearity appears to be the key parameter determining the dynamic behaviour of the model system in one-, two- and three-dimensional cases. The conditions for the existence of pulse-generating and autowave modes in this system were determined by computer simulations. Of particular interest is the behaviour of damaged soil, especially its self-regeneration potential. Inoculation autowave was proven to restore the initial state of the soil if two adjacent or separated trophic links fall out. Possible ways of the further development of the proposed model are also discussed.