Life Sciences Commons^™

Modeling Forest Dynamics At The Landscape Scale: Integrating A Computer Simulation Model And Geographic Information System, David W. Betz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This research demonstrates the ability to integrate a computer simulation model with a geographic information system (GIS) to predict forest community dynamics in both the spatial and temporal dimensions. A landscape scale computer simulation model, LANDSIM, was coupled with the Arc/Info GIS to simulate the interaction of forest fires and forest succession at Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, and to produce maps of the predicted community types. The sensitivity of the model was tested with respect to the fire return interval, maximum neighbor spread, and the effect of slope upon the spread of simulated fires. The model predicts that each …