Using Simulation Models and Geographic Information Systems to Integrate Ecosystem and Landscape Ecology

The movement of water downslope in a watershed or through the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum integrates processes occurring at scales ranging from a few meters to many square kilometers. The complexity of the landscape may derive from these pathways of water flow. However, ecosystem data are usually collected in areas of centimeters to meters, represented by plots or transects. Ecosystem models predict productivity, nutrient flows, or habitat for a particular plot, but landscape processes occurring at larger scales, such as floods, fires, or animal activities, may constrain or override these smaller scale ecosystem processes. Extrapolation of data or model predictions at fine scales to the larger landscape therefore requires an assumption of spatial homogeneity or knowledge of resource heterogeneity. Geographic information systems (GISs) are new tools that enable us to assess the consequences of spatial heterogeneity. When coupled with simulation models and data bases, they allow us to bridge ecosystem and landscape scales. Three examples are presented of how simulation models can be coupled with GIS: (1) multivariate analyses of landscape structure, (2) parameterizing mathematical models of landscape dynamics, which can be used to predict landscape behavior, and (3) extrapolating simulations of ecosystem properties across the entire landscape. The need for new hardware and software for dynamic GIS simulations is also discussed.

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