BioPhysical Modelling
The model I developed during my PhD research utilises the Rule-Based Community-Level Modelling (RBCLM) system developed by McIntosh and others for vegetation modelling with qualitative knowledge in circumstances where quantitative data for model parameterisation is sparse. The two key attributes of vegetation change addressed by the RBCLM approach are:

1. direction of transition between discrete land cover (vegetation) classes
2. rate of transition between these discrete land cover classes.

By considering vegetation change at a broad vegetation type level in these terms allows qualitative understanding of vegetation dynamics to be translated into a formal, spatial model at the landscape scale. The model exploits this methodology, basing rules for change on the behaviour of broad land cover classes and their interaction, with the key environmental resource constraints of water availability and solar radiation. The vegetation dynamics model procedure is represented by a flow chart.

Screenshot from the BioPhysical Model

Eleven broad land cover classes are considered with both ‘natural’ vegetation dynamics and human activity in mind. Pine, ‘Transition Forest’, Deciduous, Holm Oak and Scrub land covers are considered as ‘natural’ vegetation types (i.e. human activity does little to influence dynamics) with distinct life history traits and reproductive strategies. The Pine and Holm Oak classes are considered as directly analogous to ‘seeder’ and ‘resprouter’ (respectively) species, and as such the landscape is conceptualised in a similar vein to the archetypal models of Mediterranean pine-oak ecosystems discussed widely in the literature.

A grid-based fire dynamics model, considering environmental variables such as topography and climate, is integrated with the vegetation dynamics model. More details reagrding this part of the model can be found on the Wildfire Behaviour page. Succession between these land cover types following disturbance is conceptualised diagramatically.