IWR Colloquium Winter Semester 2025 / 2026 Modeling the Dynamics of Forested Ecosystems Across Multiple Scales

In this presentation, I will show how a complex adaptive systems framework helps explain and predict how disturbances across scales shape forest structure and dynamics. Forests are viewed as systems of interacting plants whose local interactions generate self-organized, multiscale patterns. To capture this complexity, I use a hierarchical patch-mosaic approach, linking individual-based models (Crown Plastic SORTIE, LES, PPA) with a Markov chain model of stand dynamics. Models are parameterized with FIA and Québec inventory data and informed by remote sensing. These tools clarify how management and climate change influence forest dynamics and carbon outcomes.