Approaching the concepts of ecosystems resilience and stability through spatiotemporal system dynamics and agent-based modelling
Authored by Sebastian Pena-Alzate, Barriga Julio Eduardo Canon
Date Published: 2017
DOI: 10.17533/udea.redin.n84a10
Sponsors:
No sponsors listed
Platforms:
MATLAB
Model Documentation:
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Model Code URLs:
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Abstract
We introduce a simplified ecohydrological model to quantitatively assess
the resiliency and stability of ecosystems over long periods. The model
couples a hydrological soil moisture balance with a set of
spatiotemporal systems dynamics and agent-based algorithms to represent
the interactions among several plant populations in a gridded area under
different water, soil and temperature constraints. We characterize the
plant populations by allometric rules (i.e., power laws for generational
and reproductive times; linear approximations for water and temperature
gains, losses and optimal values; and a set of intra and interspecific
interaction rules based on high, optimal and low competition responses
among the populations), that represent different plant phenotypes. We
define the disturbances by a clearance of populations in an area within
the model's domain and calculate the resiliency and stability with
simple indices to determine the ability of the ecosystem to recover from
a disturbance. The indices evaluated on each population and over the
structure of the entire ecosystem show how the populations respond
differently to disturbances, following patterns similar to those
expected in nature. The model can represent the spatial and temporal
succession of the ecosystem after being disturbed, suggesting how the
differences in the phenotypical characteristics of plant populations can
be advantageous or disadvantageous for the ecosystem recovery.
Tags
Climate
System dynamics
Management
Reliability
vulnerability
Biodiversity
Performance evaluation
classification
Agent-based
models
Vegetation dynamics
Ecological thresholds
Ecohydrology
Ecosystem resilience
Ecosystem stability
Herbaceous plants