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A SIMPLE CELLULAR AUTOMATON MODEL FOR HIGH-LEVEL VEGETATION DYNAMICS
Citation:
COLASANTI, R. L., R. HUNT, AND L. S. WATRUD. A SIMPLE CELLULAR AUTOMATON MODEL FOR HIGH-LEVEL VEGETATION DYNAMICS. ECOLOGICAL MODELLING. Elsevier Science BV, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 203:363-374, (2007).
Impact/Purpose:
To develop a probabilistic model to investigate high-level community processes
Description:
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.