Aggregation of Individual Trees and Patches in Forest Succession Models: Capturing Variability with Height Structured, Random, Spatial Distributions

Individual based, stochastic forest patch models have the potential to realistically describe forest dynamics. However, they are mathematically intransparent and need long computing times. We simplified such a forest patch model by aggregating the individual trees on many patches to height-structure...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Theoretical population biology 1998-12, Vol.54 (3), p.213-226
Main Authors: Lischke, Heike, Löffler, Thomas J., Fischlin, Andreas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
aggregation
Bias
Climate
Ecosystem
forest succession
individual based model
model simplification
Models, Biological
Monte Carlo Method
Numerical Analysis, Computer-Assisted
patch model
Population Density
Population Dynamics
Reproducibility of Results
spatial distribution
stochastic model
Stochastic Processes
structured population
Time Factors
Trees - anatomy & histology
Trees - growth & development
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Summary:Individual based, stochastic forest patch models have the potential to realistically describe forest dynamics. However, they are mathematically intransparent and need long computing times. We simplified such a forest patch model by aggregating the individual trees on many patches to height-structured tree populations with theoretical random dispersions over the whole simulated forest area. The resulting distribution-based model produced results similar to those of the patch model under a wide range of conditions. We concluded that the height- structured tree dispersion is an adequate population descriptor to capture the stochastic variability in a forest and that the new approach is generally applicable to any patch model. The simplified model required only 4.1% of the computing time needed by the patch model. Hence, this new model type is well-suited for applications where a large number of dynamic forest simulations is required.
ISSN:0040-5809
1096-0325
DOI:10.1006/tpbi.1998.1378