Figure 1:

The Soybean Cyst Nematode Simulation (SCNSim) framework. Environment, Nematode, Viral Infection and Soybean boxes represent classes in an object-oriented framework, with their respective properties listed within the boxes, and interactions between each other shown by solid arrows. The Nematode class is a simplified model of the life cycle of the nematode Heterodera glycines. SCNSim stochastically simulates a population of nematode agents governed by a dynamic environment, health of the host soybean crops, and the nature of the viral infec- tion. Nematode transition between life stages. Stages J2-J4 feed on the soybean plant diminishing the plant health. The environment modulates the growth of the soybean plant as well as the hatching and transition to the cyst stage in the nematode. The viral parameters are a property of the nematode objects that reduce their health. Viruses transmit horizontally and vertically. Nematodes are removed from simulation when their Health parameter drops below zero.