Dr. Nikolai Yu. Konovalov:

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE AND RESEARCH ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

The emphasis of Dr. Konovalov's studies has been mainly placed on the system analysis and simulation in the fields of agriculture, biology and ecology. The first investigations were devoted to application of the mathematical methods in ecology. The equations for the two-species communities of animal populations in limited and unlimited environment were derived. The types of interactions between the populations and the impact of the environment were classified on the basis of these equations. The properties of the fitness functions were also investigated.

At the next step the influence of ecologo-genetic interactions on the population dynamics was introduced into the model. The fundamental system of ecologo-genetic interactions was developed and its qualitative analysis was made. The significant effect of ecologo-genetic interactions on the microevolution of population was shown. It was theoretically proved that it is possible to get the desired genetic composition of populations by means of changing their ecologic structure. On the basis of ecologo-genetic models the problems of optimal management of populations (yielding, inhibition etc.) were considered. The results were used for recommendations on pest management in plant protection.

The investigations in plant protection were continued towards the developing of system approach for the simulation of interactions among the different species of plants and animals (weeds, pests, viruses, fungi) in agrobiocenoses. The fundamentals of system analysis for the case were formulated and its necessary stages were determined. In particular, the mathematical functions describing the impact of weeds on the yield were proposed and the new mathematical model describing the seasonal dynamics of age structure for insect populations with overlapping generations was developed. The later was the differential-difference model with time lag adopted for insect development (egg - lavae - pupa - imago stages). The approach and the model were successfully used for the simulation of potato protection against Colorado beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say).

The intensification of agriculture has given the impetus to study the soil organic matter management. The first attempt to simulate the organic matter transformation was based on the balance equations for carbon flows. A set of models was created. The models had much in common but were distinguished in the methods of dividing the soil organic matter into different groups according to their physical-chemical nature and sources of income. The goal of these models was to analyze different farming systems (crop rotation + organic fertilizers) calculating the dynamics of humus content and composition. The fact that the activity of soil cenosis depended on the supply of available organic substrate in soil and impacted on the intensity of transformation processes were taken into account. To incorporate these phenomena into the model the new approach was developed. The analysis of the model proved that it enabled to improve the accuracy of simulation. It should be emphasized the significant role of the specific humuos compounds content that characterizes the soil fertility more precisely than the total humusness.

On the other hand, the attempts were made to simulate the dynamics of organic matter in the arable layer of soil on the basis of detailed description of microbiological processes. In accordance with the results of system analysis made for the case, the soil biota was divided upon autotrophs, a few groups of heterotrophs and other functional groups of microorganisms. In its turn, the soil organic matter was divided upon a number of groups corresponding to their origin, molecular composition and availability for microflora. The effect of soil invertebrates on transformation was also studied. The resulted system was the most complete and enabled to study the most complex intrasystem interrelations, mechanisms and conditions of the soil organic matter transformation in soil. The main difficulty of the proposed model was to provide it with the reliable methods of the model parameters identification. The use of the model gave the scientific background for the management and technologies aimed to increase the soil fertility. The models of this type could also be used for the model experiments to improve the simple models.

From the particular case of the organic matter dynamics in soil, our studies had been enlarged and focused on many aspects of soil fertility. Important goals were to maintain the soil fertility and to optimize the methods of its management. It was shown the necessity to develop a quantitative theory on the optimization of soil properties and regimes for the main national and regional agricultural zones. In our case the subject of research was the agropedocenosis of arable layer in cultivated soil which was influenced by physical, physical-chemical and anthropogeneous factors. To create the model the previously developed conceptions, principles and technology of simulation were used. It was significant that within the framework of this approach the soil fertility was understood as a dynamical property of soil being a result of many essential processes. Therefore, the wide range of processes including the main climatic, technological and landscape factors, water, air-gaseous and heat regimes, plant ontogenesis, architectonics and productivity, soil biota activity, humus and nutrients balances, leaching of elements and some others were under consideration. The model used the traditional agronomical data. The model was supposed to assist in solving such problems as calculations of the yields for every plot and crop, calculation of the fertilizers amounts needed for the desired yield or planned rate of soil improvement, calculation of the organic matter dynamics, the dynamics of nutrients, calcium and pH, evaluation of the limiting factors, estimation of conditions for plant growth as influenced by farming system. The model was developed for long-term and medium-term forecast of soil fertility. The adequacy of the results of modelling was tested on the experimental data. It was found also that the dynamical approach and the consideration of agroecological factors were crucial while simulating soil fertility. It was possible to adopt the model to the customer's requirements and correspond with user's level of knowledge. Therefore, significant efforts have been made to design a friendly interface and to construct the appropriate database and the knowledge base for the model.

While being with Regional Research Computer Centre in 1994-2004 Dr. Konovalov's activity had been focusing on developing of different aspects of informational technologies and their applications in agricultural science. It includes both research studies and organisational and lecture work.

Since March 2004 Dr. Konovalov is a leading researcher at North-West Research Institute for Economics of Agriculture where he has dealt with models aimed to give an economic forecast of yield under consideration of agroclimatic conditions. He is also a consultant on problems with software and hardware.

Dr. Konovalov presented the results of his studies at many conferences. Among them it could be mentioned the Conference on Pest Management at the International Institute for Applied System Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria; the II All-Union Conference on Application of Mathematical Models and Computers in Soil Science, Putschino, Russia; the Conference on Century of Dokuchaev's Soil Science, Leningrad, Russia; the Conference on Problems of Agricultural Crops Yield Programming, Moscow, Russia; the 10-th International Congress of Plant Protection in Brighton, Great Britain; the VII Congress of All-Union Soil Scientists Society, Moscow, Russia; the Conference on Agropedology and Soil Fertility, Leningrad, Russia; the All-Union Meeting on Problems of Cybernetics Use in Agricultural Industry, Moscow, Russia; the Symposium on Biological Aspects of Energy Saving in Protected Cultivation organized by International Society for Horticultural Sciences in Pisa, Italy; the Conference on Systems and Equipment for Automation in Agroindustry, Moscow, Russia; the Conference on Modelling of the Productive Soil Potential in the Agroecosystems, Sofia; the VIII Congress of All-Union Soil Scientists Society, Novosibirsk, Russia; the Seminar on Soil Fertility at the Norwegian Agricultural University in Ås, Norway; the 14-th International Congress of Soil Science in Kyoto, Japan; ISTRO Conference "Soil tillage for crop production and protection of the environment", Aalborg, Denmark.