Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Applications In Landscape Ecology: A Simple Rule-Based Simulation Approach To Modeling Windthrow Disturbance In Forests Of The Western Cascades In Oregon, Brendan C. (Brendan Charles) Ward

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

The study of how biotic and abiotic processes function and interact within the biosphere is fundamental to the field of ecology. In particular, the field of landscape ecology focuses on the relationship between patterns and process at the landscape level. Windthrow is an important, though unfortunately under-studied agent of disturbance in the temperate coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest. Along with wildfire, windthrow is a dominant force in shaping the structure of the region's forested landscapes, resulting in visible vegetation patterns at the landscape level. The present study involved the development of a windthrow simulation model for the Bull Run …