Conclusions

In this work, we have demonstrated that experimenting and visualizing complex models provides an extremely powerful tool for grappling with ecological systems. The error analysis coupled with the simulations under many environmental conditions delineate the range of forest behaviors that are likely. As important, the role of each model element is ascertained through careful experimentation with the fundamental relationships among the individual trees. This is a strong demonstration that the small-scale detail relevant to large-scale forest behavior is tractable with this combined empirical and computational approach. For both aspects of this work, the visualizations were key to understanding model predictions and building insight.


What is to be sought in design for the display of information ... is to give visual access to the subtle and the difficult--that is, the revelation of the complex. (Tufte 1983)