Modelling forest ground vegetation on landscape

scaleLarisa Khanina1, Maxim

Bobrovsky2, Alexander Komarov2, Alex

Mikhajlov2

1Institute of Mathematical Biology, Russian Academy of Science, Pushchino, Russia

2Institute of Soil Physics, Chemistry, and Biology,Russian Academy of Science, Pushchino, Russia

DynamicDATA EU25+ Regional Workshop I

T R E E S

Climate

PAR

Initialisation

Available PAR for trees, ground vegetation and natural regeneration

Redistribution of soil available nitrogen

1 2 3 . n Ground vegetation

Natural regeneration

Model of soil organic matter ROMUL

Forest manager

Data viewer Graph interface 3D visualisation Ecosystem production

Soil features Trees renewal

Ground Vegetation

EFIMOD

At the first step· an approach· an algorithm

· a special software

to calculate dynamics of ground vegetation diversity at a level of forest stand on a base of

· Forest Inventory Data· forest simulated results

Our approachplant species functional groups in ground vegetation modelling

ecological-coenotic species groups

Ellenberg’s ecological indicator

species values

Species ordination scores (by ordinationof phytosociological

relevés)Multivariate analysis

introduced in Nitsenko (1969)

Results of multivariate analysisca. 1000 forest vascular species

were split into the functional groupsBoreal Vaccinium myrtillus, Maianthemum bifolium,

Pyrola rotundifolia, Linnaea borealis

Nemoral Asarum europaeum, Aegopodium podagraria,

Galeobdolon luteum, Milium effusum

Piny Vaccinium vitis-idaea, Pteridium aquilinum,

Antennaria dioica, Calluna vulgaris

Nitrophilous

Aconitum septentrionale, Stellaria nemorum,

Urtica dioica

Meadow Fragaria vesca, Alchemilla sp., Dactylis glomerata

Water/Olg Caltha palustris, Typha angustifolia, Carex globularis

To use the groups for modelling dynamics of ground vegetation· to define the dominant group

at the initial step of simulation

· to define rules of the group switching according to dynamics of the simulated parameters

tree species composition, light supply, deadwood volume, litter,

soil fertility and moisture

Definition of dominant species groups at the initial step

Dominant group(s) in ground vegetation

Forest Inventory Data

Dominant species in ground vegetation

Database on ecological-

coenotic groups of plant species

Definition of dominant species groups at the initial step

Forest Inventory Data

Forest Site Index - soil fertility and

moisture

Dominant tree species

Regional probability tables of correspondenceTree Dominant –

Forest Site Index - Dominant group in ground vegetation

Forest type biodiversity assessment

Forest Type =Tree dominant + Dominant group in ground vegetation

Vegetation Sample Plots Data

Forest type biodiversity indices•Average number of plant species per square unit•Functional structure of ground vegetation

Modeling of forest groundvegetation

Vege -tation (forest)

type

Dominant tree species in overstory

Dominant ecologo - coenotic group in ground

vegetation

Stand characteristics from Forest Inventory Data

Vege -tation (forest) type

Dominant tree species in overstory

Dominant ecologo - coenotic group in ground

vegetation

EFIMOD simulations

Tree species composition

Soil organic matter and nitrogenDeadwood

time 1 time n

BioCalc - a software for dynamic analysis of forest ground vegetation diversity

BioCalc input data

· tables of probabilistic distribution of the groups in ground vegetation according to the tree dominant and the forest site index· a correspondence table between a forest type and species diversity rank · a time series table of forest stand ecosystem parameters (EFIMOD runs)

Rules of functional groups switching

User of the BioCalc software selects from the time series tables – in an interactive mode – thresholds for a number of ecosystem parameters.

Reaching these thresholds causes a change of the dominant ecological-coenotic group.

The user can observe all values of any ecosystem parameter displayed graphically

Rules of functional groups switching

If the values are digital, a graphic is built where the values go in ascending order, which allows for easy detection of the thresholds

BioCalck outputsDynamics of

· ground vegetation functional groups,

· forest types, and · species diversity ranks

A link with Common-GIS (Andrienko, Andrienko, 1999) for visual exploration of ground vegetation dynamics at the landscape level

A case study experimental forestry“Russkii Les”

273-hectare forest lot with 104 stands Four strategies of silvicultural regimes

for 200 years time span:·natural development·legal clear cutting

·selective cutting·illegal clear cutting

(i) meadow group switched to boreal group when spruce began to dominate in overstorey

(ii) any group switched to nemoral when oak began to dominate in overstorey

(iii) piny group switched to boreal group when deadwood overpassed the 1st threshold value

(iv) any group switched to nitrophilous group when deadwood overpassed the second threshold value, and

(v) nitrophilous group switched to nemoral group when deadwood fell below the 2nd threshold value

Case study rules of functional group switching

In the scenarios with clear cuttings: after the clear cutting, a dominant

group was taken from a specially designed probabilistic table of the group distribution in ground vegetation designed for the after-clear-cutting conditions

Case study rules of functional group switching

Tree dominant dynamicsSelective cuttingsNatural development

Illegal clear cuttingsLegal clear cuttings

Tree dominant dynamics

The beginning

Legal clear cutting

Natural development

Legal selective cutting

Illegal clear cutting

200-year dynamics

Deadwood dynamics

Functional group dynamicsNatural development

Legal clear cutting Illegal clear cutting

Legal selective cuttings

Functional group dynamics

The beginning

Legal clear cutting

Natural development

Legal selective cutting

Illegal clear cutting

200-year dynamics

Species diversity dynamics

Species diversity dynamics

The beginning

Legal clear cutting

Natural development

Legal selective cutting

Illegal clear cutting

200-year dynamics

Tree dominant dynamics – regional level

1 Pine, 2 Spruce, 3 Birch, 4 Aspen

I initial state, II legal clear-cutting, III natural development

50-year dynamics

Functional group dynamics– regional level

I initial state, II legal clear-cutting, III natural development

50-year dynamics

Species diversity dynamics – regional level

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 – ranks of species diversity

I initial state, II legal clear-cutting, III natural development

50-year dynamics

used tree compositiondeadwood

in progress humus amountnitrogen amount

in plan light soil moisture

EFIMOD parameters for ground vegetation dynamics

Thank you for your attention!