ABSTRACT
Current global climatic changes such as air temperature increase, carbon dioxide (CO2) enrichment, and precipitation reduction have already resulted in substantial changes in ecological processes and landscape patterns at different scales (Hansen et al. 2001; Walther et al. 2002). At small scales, the increase in temperature and CO2 enrichment may change only the growth of individual plants by regulating photosynthesis (Long et al. 2004); however, at large scales, the warming may cause catastrophic landscape changes such as substantial forest dieback resulting from intensified drought (Allen et al. 2010). For small-scale processes (e.g., photosynthesis and respiration), field experiments in open top chamber or the
CONTENTS
10.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 173 10.2 Forest Landscape Dynamics ............................................................................................ 175
10.2.1 Model Initialization ............................................................................................... 176 10.2.2 Model Validation/Benchmarking ....................................................................... 178 10.2.3 Model-Data Integration ......................................................................................... 178
10.3 Lake Landscape Dynamics .............................................................................................. 181 10.3.1 Extraction of Lakes from Remote Sensing Images ........................................... 181 10.3.2 Use of Lake Data for Model Initialization .......................................................... 184 10.3.3 Potential Use of Lake Data for Model Validation/Benchmarking ................. 184
10.4 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 185 Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................................... 185 References ..................................................................................................................................... 185
free air CO2 experiment (FACE) can be used to study the effects of future climatic changes on ecosystems (Ainsworth and Long 2005); however, the information generated at small scale may not be sufficient to understand the large-scale process due to the system complexity resulting from spatial heterogeneity and interdependence of different driving factors (Wiens 1989). Furthermore, it would be infeasible to conduct large-scale field experiments to understand mechanisms causing large-scale landscape changes (e.g., fire disturbances). Therefore, numerical models and computer simulation are important tools to help us better understand and predict the effects of climatic change on large-scale landscapes (He 2008). Even for small-scale processes, models are helpful for understanding and predicting ecosystem changes under different environmental conditions (Farquhar et al. 1980; Ball et al. 1987).
