Development and Parameterization of a General Forest Gap Dynamics Simulator for the North-Eastern Mediterranean Basin (Greek Forest Species)
ecological modelling 204 (2007) 439–456 available at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolmodel Development and parameterization of a general forest gap dynamics simulator for the North-eastern Mediterranean Basin (GREek FOrest Species) Nikolaos M. Fyllas a,∗, Oliver L. Phillips b, William E. Kunin c, Yiannis G. Matsinos a, Andreas I. Troumbis a a Biodiversity Conservation Laboratory, Department of Environment, University of the Aegean, Lesvos, Greece b Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, School of Geography, University of Leeds, UK c Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, School of Biology, University of Leeds, UK article info abstract Article history: This paper describes the development of a model, able to simulate the dynamics of typi- Received 23 February 2006 cal mountainous Mediterranean ecosystems, following the forest gap dynamics framework. Received in revised form The model has been adapted to the bioclimatic conditions and species traits of the North- 26 January 2007 eastern part of the Mediterranean Basin, based on forest inventories and climate data from Accepted 1 February 2007 Greece. With GREFOS (GREek FOrest Species), we tried to develop a generalized forest sim- Published on line 26 March 2007 ulator able to both perform realistically in the mountainous Mediterranean climatic zone, and to identify transitional zones with the lower elevation Mediterranean vegetation pro- Keywords: file. GREFOS follows the structure and “evolution” of the ForClim model, which was initially Forest gap model developed for Temperate Central European forests. A life history strategy parameter, which Mountainous Mediterranean forests affects (under a functional group type approach) the regeneration and mortality pathways Plant functional types of the species included in the model, has been incorporated.
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