A simple Markovian individual-based model as a means of understanding forest dynamics
Authored by Khader Khadraoui
Date Published: 2015
DOI: 10.1016/j.matcom.2014.07.001
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Abstract
The forests are ecological systems of great complexity which present
interaction phenomena associated with the competition between
individuals of the same and of different species. This competition is
about access to resources (light, water, nutrients, etc.). The scales of
forest ecosystems are very long. For this reason we use in this
framework Markovian modelling for space and time evolution of population
distribution, thanks to an individual-based model in the form of a
stochastic branching process. Understanding the behaviour of
individual-based models of forest dynamics becomes difficult as their
complexity increases. A useful strategy consists in simplifying parts of
the original model in order to simulate a simplified version of forest
dynamics. This strategy is adopted to understand the spatial pattern
structured population in a simple individual-based model. The model is
made of two components: birth or recruitment and death (natural
mortality and mortality due to competition). The interplay between the
spatial pattern of trees and the competition/dispersion level is thus
understood and the excessive impact of the low dispersion that favours
the establishment of clusters is diagnosed. (C) 2014 IMACS. Published by
Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Strategy
population
Future
Ecological theory