A simple cellular automaton model for high-level vegetation dynamics

R.L. Colasanti, R. Hunt and L. Watrud

Ecological Modelling, 2007, vol. 203, issue 3, 363-374

Abstract: We have produced a simple two-dimensional (ground-plan) cellular automata model of vegetation dynamics specifically to investigate high-level community processes. The model is probabilistic, with individual plant behavior determined by physiologically-based rules derived from a well-known system of plant functional types (the C–S–R system, based on environmental disturbance and resource availability). These plant types, when grown in real experiments with virtual communities, reproduce classical community-level behavior and, in complex communities simulated over a wide range of environmental conditions, produce a clearly ‘hump-backed’ curve linking plant diversity to community productivity. The properties of this curve invite many further layers of experimentation.

Keywords: Cellular automata; Vegetation dynamics; Biodiversity; Productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:203:y:2007:i:3:p:363-374

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2006.12.039

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