DYNAMIC FOREST ECOSYSTEM MODEL
FORESEE–FORESt Ecosystems in a Changing Environment (4C)

4C is a model developed to describe long-term forest behaviour under changing environmental conditions. The model includes descriptions of tree species composition, forest structure, total ecosystem carbon content as well as leaf area index. The model shares a number of features with gap models, which have often been used for the simulation of long-term forest development. Establishment, growth and mortality of tree cohorts are explicitly modelled on a patch on which horizontal homogeneity is assumed. 4C requires climatic driving variables on a daily resolution but the outputs are given according to various time steps.

FORMIND

FORMIND is an individual-based vegetation model that simulates the growth of forests on the hectare scale. It allows to explore forest dynamics and forest structure including also processes like gap building. The main processes included in FORMIND are recruitment and establishment, mortality and growth. They depend on site-specific environmental conditions (temperature, insoolation, …). In addition, disturbances like fire events, forest fragmentation, logging or landslides can be activated.

HETEROgeneous FORest (HETEROFOR)

HETEROFOR is a spatially-explicit and process-based model describing individual tree growth based on resource sharing (light, water and nutrients) in uneven-aged and mixed stands. HETEROFOR was progressively elaborated through the integration of various modules (light interception, phenology, water cycling, photosynthesis and respiration, carbon allocation, mineral nutrition and nutrient cycling).

PICUS

The PICUS model family is based on the patch model approach and comprises the three model variants,each operating on a different level of physiological detail

Three Dimensional Forest Ecosystem Model of the euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change (3D-CMCC-FEM)

3D-CMCC-FEM is a hybrid or fully bio-geochemical forest model that simulates storage and fluxes of carbon, water, and nitrogen including the dynamics occurring in forest ecosystems. The model is able to reproduce dynamics occurring in homogeneous and heterogeneous forests with different plant species, for different ages, diameters and height classes competing with each other for resources. The model simulates carbon fluxes in terms of gross and net primary production, partitioning and allocation in the main plant compartments (stem, branch, leaf, fruit, fine and coarse root, including non-structural carbon compounds). Nitrogen fluxes and allocation in the same carbon pools are also reproduced

WHAT WE DO
  • Provide training and technical support for modelling activities to research groups at CREAF.
  • Develop and promote the use of process-based and empirical models aimed at predicting the response of terrestrial ecosystems to global change at multiple scales from the forest stand to the region.
  • Facilitate discovery of data sets or models relevant for ecosystem modelling activities.
  • Develop tools aimed at facilitating the interoperability between data sources and models, and between different models.
  • Develop and maintain interactive web applications for ecosystem data exploration and visualization.
CONTACT

Campus de Bellaterra (UAB) Edifici C

08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès

EcosystemModellingFacility@creaf.uab.cat

This action is part of the Severo Ochoa "ULandscape" funded in 2019 by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation to support Research Centres of Excellence.

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