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Modeling vegetation structure-ecosystem process interactions across sites and ecosystems

Publication ,  Journal Article
Lauenroth, WK; Urban, DL; Coffin, DP; Parton, WJ; Shugart, HH; Kirchner, TB; Smith, TM
Published in: Ecological Modelling
January 1, 1993

We describe an approach to investigating and understanding the interactions between vegetation structure and ecosystem processes that uses simulation models as a framework for comparison and synthesis across ecosystems arrayed along environmental gradients. The models are individual-based vegetation simulators and compartment models of nutrient cycling and soil water relations. Applications focus on interactions and feedbacks between vegetation structure (species composition, size structure) and ecosystem processes (water balance, nutrient cycling), and how these relationships vary across environmental gradients. Preliminary results indicate that life-history traits of plants have a profound influence on system-level behaviors, and that differences between grasslands and forests can be attributed largely to contrasting traits of grasses and trees. Experiments with linked vegetation-ecosystem process models diverge from simulations with either model run independently, suggesting the importance of feedbacks between details of vegetation pattern and ecosystem processes. The development of a fully coupled vegetation-ecosystem process model that is sufficiently general to simulate systems dominated by multiple lifeforms presents several conceptual, logistical, and scaling challenges, but also provides for new opportunities in ecosystem theory. © 1993.

Duke Scholars

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Published In

Ecological Modelling

DOI

ISSN

0304-3800

Publication Date

January 1, 1993

Volume

67

Issue

1

Start / End Page

49 / 80

Related Subject Headings

  • Ecology
 

Citation

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Lauenroth, W. K., Urban, D. L., Coffin, D. P., Parton, W. J., Shugart, H. H., Kirchner, T. B., & Smith, T. M. (1993). Modeling vegetation structure-ecosystem process interactions across sites and ecosystems. Ecological Modelling, 67(1), 49–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3800(93)90099-E
Lauenroth, W. K., D. L. Urban, D. P. Coffin, W. J. Parton, H. H. Shugart, T. B. Kirchner, and T. M. Smith. “Modeling vegetation structure-ecosystem process interactions across sites and ecosystems.” Ecological Modelling 67, no. 1 (January 1, 1993): 49–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3800(93)90099-E.
Lauenroth WK, Urban DL, Coffin DP, Parton WJ, Shugart HH, Kirchner TB, et al. Modeling vegetation structure-ecosystem process interactions across sites and ecosystems. Ecological Modelling. 1993 Jan 1;67(1):49–80.
Lauenroth, W. K., et al. “Modeling vegetation structure-ecosystem process interactions across sites and ecosystems.” Ecological Modelling, vol. 67, no. 1, Jan. 1993, pp. 49–80. Scopus, doi:10.1016/0304-3800(93)90099-E.
Lauenroth WK, Urban DL, Coffin DP, Parton WJ, Shugart HH, Kirchner TB, Smith TM. Modeling vegetation structure-ecosystem process interactions across sites and ecosystems. Ecological Modelling. 1993 Jan 1;67(1):49–80.
Journal cover image

Published In

Ecological Modelling

DOI

ISSN

0304-3800

Publication Date

January 1, 1993

Volume

67

Issue

1

Start / End Page

49 / 80

Related Subject Headings

  • Ecology