Managing landscapes to increase agricultural productivity and
environmental stewardship requires spatially distributed models that can
integrate data and operate at spatial and temporal scales that are
intervention-relevant. This paper presents Cycles-L, a landscape-scale,
coupled agroecosystem hydrologic modeling system. Cycles-L couples a 3-D
land surface hydrologic model, Flux-PIHM, with a 1-D agroecosystem
model, Cycles. Cycles-L takes the landscape and hydrology structure from
Flux-PIHM and most agroecosystem processes from Cycles. Consequently,
Cycles-L can simulate landscape level processes affected by topography,
soil heterogeneity, and management practices, owing to its
physically-based hydrologic component and ability to simulate horizontal
and vertical transport of mineral nitrogen (N) with water. The model was
tested at a 730-ha agricultural experimental watershed within the
Mahantango Creek watershed in Pennsylvania. Cycles-L simulated well
stream water discharge and N exports (Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient 0.55
and 0.58, respectively), and grain crop yield (root mean square error
1.01 Mg ha−1), despite some uncertainty in the
accuracy of survey-based input data. Cycles-L outputs are as good if not
better than those obtained with the uncoupled Flux-PIHM (water
discharge) and Cycles (crop yield) models. Model predicted spatial
patterns of N fluxes clearly show the combined control of crop
management and topography. Cycles-L spatial and temporal resolution
fills a gap in the availability of analytical models at an operational
scale relevant to evaluate costly strategic and tactical interventions
in silico, and can become a core component of tools for
applications in precision agriculture, precision conservation, and
artificial intelligence-based decision support systems.