iLand Documentation Hub

Welcome to the central portal for navigating the iLand (individual-based forest landscape and disturbance model) documentation.

Part 1: Model Documentation

About iLand

iLand simulates forest ecosystems as complex adaptive systems. Its dynamics emerge from interactions between individual trees (the adaptive biotic agents) and their relationship with a spatially and temporally heterogeneous environment.

Why iLand Design Principles Technical Design

Physiological Processes

Continuous demographic and physiological processes driving resource acquisition, primary production, carbon/nitrogen allocation, water cycles, and decomposition.

Resource & Competition:
Resource Availability & Competition | Light Competition | Light Influence Patterns (LIPs) | Belowground Competition

Production & Growth:
Primary Production (3-PG) | Carbon Allocation | Stem Growth | Environmental Modifiers | Phenology

Biogeochemical Cycling:
Water Cycle | Soil Dynamics | Carbon & Nitrogen cycling (ICBM)

Demographic Processes

The continuous life-cycle stages of the forest: energy capture leads to individual tree growth, stress triggers tree mortality, and seeds disperse to establish regeneration.

Growth Regeneration Mortality

Sub-modules: Dispersal • Establishment • Saplings • Recruitment • Base Mortality

Disturbances

Discontinuous, sudden ecological events that disrupt forest landscape dynamics. iLand explicitly simulates multiple natural disturbance agents.

Abiotic: Wind Concept / Wind Module • Fire Concept / Wildfire Module

Biotic: Bark Beetle Concept / Beetle Module • BITE (Biotic Disturbance Engine)

Forest Management

iLand models management interventions from simple harvesting and tree planting to complex multi-agent silvicultural regimes across ownership boundaries.

Base Management Agent Based Management Engine (ABE)

Configure Stand Treatment Programs (STPs), activities, treatment schedules, and ownership rules: Management Activities • ABE Script Library • ABE Variables • Parallel Management Example

Submodules

Optional extensions covering localized geographical conditions, special vegetation tiers, or trophic interactions.

Permafrost (POLE-FM): Boreal forest soil-organic layer and frozen soil dynamics. Ungulate Browsing: Spatially explicit impact of browsing on seedling height growth. Understory & Grass: Forest floor vegetation layer competition with young tree cohorts. Scaling Vegetation Dynamics (SVD): Deep-learning based framework for upscaling vegetation transitions.

Part 2: Working with iLand

iLand Software

Executing simulations in GUI interactive mode or on headless high-performance computing clusters.

Landscape Setup

Configuring landscape extents, soil files, weather datasets, and vegetation parameters.

Scripting

Using scripting to orchestrate landscape-wide activities, write custom outputs, or extend core C++ code.