Journal of Ecosystems & Management vol. 13 no. 2 2012 news brief 

Beukema, Sarah

Dymond, Caren C.

Scheller, Robert M.

English

PDXScholar (Portland State University)

Portland State UniversityPDXScholarEnvironmental Science and Management FacultyPublications and Presentations Environmental Science and Management2012A New Model For Simulating Climate Change and CarbonDynamics in Forested LandscapesCaren C. DymondB.C. Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource OperationsRobert M. SchellerPortland State University, rmschell@pdx.eduSarah BeukemaESSA Technologies Ltd.Let us know how access to this document benefits you.Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/esm_facPart of the Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons, EnvironmentalMonitoring Commons, and the Forest Sciences CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Environmental Science and Management FacultyPublications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. For more information, please contact pdxscholar@pdx.edu.Citation DetailsDymond, C.C., Scheller, R.M., & Beukema, S. 2012. A New Model For Simulating Climate Change and Carbon Dynamics in ForestedLandscapes. Journal of Ecosystems and Management 13(2):1–2.The forest science community welcomed a new simulation model on August 1, 2012.The model will help natural resource managers understand the effects of a changingenvironment on forests, including carbon dynamics and the availability of dead woodhabitat. Forest Carbon Succession v1.0 (ForCSv1—nicknamed “Forks”) is an extensionwithin the LANDIS-II family of models. ForCSv1 maintains all the functionality of LAN-DIS-II, while adding the calculations of forest carbon dynamics. Using the model, forestmanagers can explore what-if scenarios, assess management or offset project ideas, andidentify opportunities to reduce risks.LANDIS-II is a popular forest modelling platform that simulates spatially-explicit for-est succession, disturbance (including fire, wind, harvesting, and insects), climate change,and seed dispersal across large landscapes. It tracks the spatial distribution of tree andshrub species and simulates multi-species and multi-age stands. Its approach to softwaredevelopment allows for rapid model improvements, easy distribution, and an online usercommunity. LANDIS-II has been applied worldwide, including in Canada, such as in NovaScotia (Steenberg et al. 2011) and Labrador (Sturtevant et al. 2007).In 2008, Caren Dymond identified a need for a freely available model to simulate cli-mate change impacts on forest carbon dynamics, including the feedback ofchanging vegetation on management and disturbances. She assessed theavailable options and realized that there was an opportunity to bring to-gether the existing forest ecosystem models of LANDIS-II (Scheller andMladenoff 2004) and the Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sec-tor v3 (Kurz et al. 2009). The gurus of the two models (Dr. Rob Schellerand Dr. Werner Kurz) were willing to collaborate with Dymond on the proj-ect. After obtaining funding from the BC Forest Service, Dymond was able to hire SarahBeukema and ESSA Technologies to provide both programming and scientific expertise.The release of the model did not occur until 2012 as the project required more work thanwas anticipated.The ForCsv1 program includes growth, mortality, decay, and disturbance impacts.ForCsv1 allows users to track carbon in five pools for each living age-species cohort, plusnine dead organic matter and soil pools for each species. In addition to the carbon storagein pools, the extension reports on Total Net Primary Productivity, Heterotrophic Respira-tion, Net Ecosystem Productivity, Net Biome Productivity, and transfers to the forest prod-1A New Model For Simulating Climate Change andCarbon Dynamics in Forested LandscapesDymond, C.C., Scheller, R.M., & Beukema, S. 2012. A New Model For Simulating Climate Change andCarbon Dynamics in Forested Landscapes. Journal of Ecosystems and Management 13(2):1–2. Published by FORREX Forum for Research and Extension in Natural Resources.http://jem.forrex.org/index.php/jem/article/viewFile/209/465JEMVol 13, No 2J O U R NA L  O F  Ecosystems&ManagementCaren Christine Dymond, British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural ResourceOperations; Robert M. Scheller, Portland State University; & Sarah Beukema, ESSATechnologies Ltd.LINKNewsForCSv1 will help forestmanagers better understandthe effects of a changingenvironment, includingcarbon dynamics.ucts sector caused by harvesting. The extension allows the user considerable flexibilityin adjusting the disturbance impacts on carbon pools.ForCSv1 has been tested successfully on a site on Vancouver Island, with other sitesin British Columbia currently in progress. The model is freely available for download athttp://www.landis-ii.org.Websiteshttp://www.landis-ii.orghttps://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/landis-ii-usershttps://sites.google.com/a/pdx.edu/dynamic-ecosystems-landscape-lab/homeReferencesKurz, W.A., C.C Dymond, T .M. White, G. Stinson, C. H.  Shaw, G. J. Rampley, C. Smyth, B. N. Simpson, E. T.Neilson, J. A. Trofymow, J. Metsaranta, & M. J. Apps. 2009. CBM-CFS3: A model of carbon-dynamicsin forestry and land-use change implementing IPCC standards. Ecological Modelling 220:480–504.Scheller, R. M. & D. J. Mladenoff. 2004. A forest growth and biomass module for a landscape simulationmodel, LANDIS: Design, validation, and application. Ecological Modelling 180(1):211–229.Steenberg, J.W.N., P.N. Duinker, & P.G. Bush. 2011. Exploring adaptation to climate change in the forestsof central Nova Scotia, Canada. Forest Ecology and Management 262: 2316–2327.doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2011.08.027Sturtevant, B. R., A. Fall, D. D. Kneeshaw, N. P. P. Simon, M. J. Papaik, K. Berninger, F. Doyon, D. G. Morgan,& C. Messier. 2007. A toolkit modeling approach for sustainable forest management planning:Achieving balance between science and local needs. Ecology and Society 12(2):7. Author informationCaren C. Dymond – Research Scientist, British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural ResourceOperations. Victoria, BC. Email: Caren.Dymond@gov.bc.caRobert Scheller – Assistant Professor, Environmental Sciences and Management, Portland State University,Portland, Oregon. Email: rmschell@pdx.eduSarah Beukema – Senior Systems Ecologist, ESSA Technologies Ltd, Vancouver, BC. Email: sbeukema@essa.comJEMVol 13, No 22A NEW MODEL FORSIMULATINGCLIMATE CHANGEAND CARBONDYNAMICS INFORESTEDLANDSCAPESDymond, Scheller,& BeukemaJ O U R NA L  O F  Ecosystems&Management

A New Model For Simulating Climate Change and Carbon Dynamics in Forested Landscapes

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A New Model For Simulating Climate Change and Carbon Dynamics in Forested Landscapes

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