One particular vision and objective with iLand is to integrate the ideas and concepts of individual based, stand level forest modeling with those of landscape ecology and modeling. To facilitate that idea we are currently holding a workshop with the core LANDIS-II developers Rob Scheller and Jimm Domingo in Corvallis. Discussing landscape issues (e.g., spatial interactions) both at the conceptual/ecological level as well as at the technical/implementation-oriented level gives us the unique opportunity to learn from the long experience of the LANDIS-II team and ensure compatibility with regard to certain aspects of the highly modular LANDIS-II structure, e.g. to design interfaces for compatibility with LANDIS-II extensions. Their newly extracted spatial library (available here), but also their approaches to model spatio-temporal dynamics of seed dispersal, forest management and disturbances in particular are highly relevant for our work in iLand. Rather than re-inventing the wheel wrt these processes the cooperation with the LANDIS-II team allows us to tap into their knowhow, bringing us a step closer to actually bridging the gap between individual based ecology and landscape ecology. And besides, working with them is really inspiring and fun…
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