Competition for light in forest population dynamics: from computer simulator to mathematical model

TL;DR

This paper develops a mathematical model for forest growth focusing on light competition, comparing it with the SORTIE simulator, and estimating parameters based on the Great Mountain Forest data.

Contribution

It introduces a size-structured population model incorporating spatial structure and compares it with an existing forest simulator using real forest data.

Findings

Mathematical model aligns with SORTIE simulator results

Parameters estimated for Great Mountain Forest

Model captures light competition effects in forest dynamics

Abstract

In this article we build a mathematical model for forest growth and we compare this model with a computer forest simulator named SORTIE. The main ingredient taken into account in both models is the competition for light between trees. The parameters of the mathematical model are estimated by using SORTIE model, when the parameter values of SORTIE model correspond to the ones previously evaluated for the Great Mountain Forest in USA. We construct a size structured population dynamics model with one and two species and with spatial structure.