BioMove - Improvement and Parameterization of a Hybrid Model fo the ASsessment of Climate Change impacts on the Vegetation of California

There is substantial evidence that climate change is affecting ecosystems worldwide.California is no exception. With insights from historic climate change and subsequentspecies’ responses, scientists are developing refined tools to evaluate how species changemay continue in the future and what impact this may have on biodiversity andconservation. Bioclimatic envelope modeling is one approach to modeling speciesdistribution. However, it has many shortcomings by neglecting to account forindividualistic species response or inter specific competition. Furthermore, bioclimaticenvelope models do not account for species dispersal constraints or those imposed bydisturbances such as land use change or fire. BioMove is a novel spatially explicit,dynamic species modeling approach developed to address these issues. It simulates atarget species in a dynamic landscape, competing with a target species in competitionwith one or many PFTs. It combines various sub-models to integrate competition,dispersal and disturbance. It has important application potential for threatened speciesassessment, management coordination and decision support, invasive species modelingand other advanced climate change research