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Institute for Applied Ecosystem Studies

Maintain forest ecosystem services at landscape scales using decision support tools

One of the most persistent difficulties in science is extrapolating relationships discovered through scientific research to larger scales. Translation to other scales cannot be achieved by simply multiplying estimates from the local scale by the area of the larger region, because human and natural systems are highly variable in space and time. Valid extrapolation requires linking of “pattern to process,” so that local-scale knowledge of what controls biological processes can be linked to the pattern of those control agents on the landscape. We develop innovative scaling concepts and tools to integrate research from many disciplines and translate forestry knowledge to policy-relevant scales.

Projecting future forest conditions using a Landscape disturbance and succession model (LANDIS II) that includes human and natural drivers of change

• Predicting global change effects on forest biomass and composition in south-central Siberia
• Scaling Aspen-FACE Results to Landscape Scale
• Increasing the reliability of predictions of the landscape effects of climate change
• Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment-Chippewa National Forest