A COUPLED CARBON-WATER-ENERGY-VEGETATION MODEL TO ASSESS RESPONSES OFTEMPERATE FOREST ECOSYSTEMS TO CHANGES IN CLIMATE AND ATMOSPHERIC CO2.1. MODEL CONCEPT

Predictions of forest ecosystem response to changes in climate and atm ospheric CO2 concentration require hierarchically structured process m odels. Present forest simulation models have conceptual limitations th at restrict their application to climate-change studies. A major drawb ack of forest succession models is that they often lack physiological details in the simulation of annual tree growth. On the other hand, ag gregated ecosystem models assume spatially homogeneous forests, and do not account for successional changes in forest composition and canopy structure. The concept of a new coupled carbon-water-energy-forest ve getation model is presented which attempts to overcome the main limita tions of existing models by implementing a modern view of ecological h ierarchy, and a robust approach for scaling ecological processes in sp ace and time.