Visualizing SORTIE: Home

Scaling from Trees to Forests:
Analysis of a Complex Simulation Model

Douglas H. Deutschman,* Simon A. Levin, Catherine Devine, Linda A. Buttel

D. H. Deutschman and S. A. Levin, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
C. Devine and L. A. Buttel, Cornell Theory Center, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
*Current address: San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA.

The advent of high-speed computing has facilitated a revolution in the modeling of ecological systems. Models can now explicitly represent the complex interplay between the local environment and each individual in the community. Complexity is also the major liability of these models as it becomes increasingly difficult to understand the model. Visualizing a complex model is a key part of model exploration. Here is presented a series of analyses aimed at understanding the critical features controlling the dynamics of SORTIE, an individual-tree model of the forests of the northeastern United States.

Editor's Note:

In this issue of Science Online, Deutschman et al. describe computational simulations of forest dynamics using the model SORTIE. Visualization of these simulations is offered to the Science Online reader for critical evaluation of the performance of the spatially-explicit, individual-based model. The visualizations are embedded in a two-tier arbor: Quick View is a conspectus while Paper is the whole kit and caboodle. Is this a useful mode for communicating scientific research? Let us know.

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