FORFUS-RT4.2

This project is part of the doctoral training unit FORFUS: Forest function under stress

Due to their complex nature, which results from interactions among many living plants and animals as well as abiotic variables, forest ecosystems feature a wide range of processes underpinning their dynamics. Furthermore, forests suffer from many—often synergistic— local stressors, as visible through the other projects within FORFUS. These disturbances play an essential role in shaping forest structure and composition, leading to a mosaic of configurations generating external forcings on the systems. Thus, forest ecosystems have become the object of a myriad of models focused each on particular instances of this tantalizing complexity.

Innovation

This project will aim to create a modular platform relying on the Agent based Modelling (ABM) paradigm, which allows for the simulation of individual plants, thereby offering increased precision and accuracy. Modelling exercises will be performed within the present project to answer theoretical ecological questions related to vegetation self-organisation under climatic stress and mutualism. Close interaction will take place with the DigiMedFor Project funded by the EU (HORIZON-CL6-2022-CIRCBIO-02), which aims to design “Digital Tools And Technology Systems For The Sustainable Management Of Mediterranean Forest Resources”. Ultimately, our projects aim to engineer a decision-making system relying on Virtual Reality (VR) and realistic agent-based simulations that will make it possible for stakeholders (i.e. forest managers) to test and visualize in real time the consequences of management actions and thereby take the best decisions.

Impact

• Develop a modular agent-based forest ecosystem modelling platform
• Interface with DigiMedFor to produce a VR real-time decision-making system to assist stakeholders in managing forests
• Incorporate experimental data to calibrate the model
• Try to understand vegetation patterns and early warning signals of critical transitions under environmental stress

Main project CONTACT

Assoc. Prof. Christian Vincenot, University of Luxembourg