Article: 

Bugmann, H., 1997. An efficient method for estimating the steady-state 
        species composition of forest gap models.  Canadian Journal of Forest 
        Research, 84(1-2): 551-556. doi: 10.1139/x97-017

Abstract:

Forest gap models are used widely in forest ecology, but their complexity and stochasticity makes simulation studies rather demanding even on modem computers, thus often precluding extensive simulation studies. In this paper, a new method is proposed to efficiently estimate the steady-state species composition of gap models. It is based on the assumption that the stochastic process underlying gap models is weakly stationary. Hence the average of one realization of the process over time (i.e., model behaviour on one forest patch of 0.083 ha) is the same as the average of the process across many patches in the steady state. The new method is described in detail. Extensive simulation studies conducted with the FORCLIM model suggest that the new method is much more efficient for estimating the steady-state species composition, requiring only 12.9% of the simulation time for the conventional experiment of simulating the dynamics of many patches reliably.

Full text is PDF 124KB

back