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Abstract
The Acadian Region of North America, which includes Maine and the Maritime Provinces of eastern Canada, is a complex transitional ecosystem that bridges the more hardwood-dominated temperate forests of the southern U.S. with the more softwood-dominated boreal forests of northern Canada. The region also has a long history of private ownership and mixed management, which has created a highly mixed landscape of forest conditions. Since 2008, the University of Maine has led the development of the Acadian Variant of the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS-ACD), which has seen continued development and use since its initial inception. In recent years, particular focus has been on the refinement of the diameter/height increment and mortality equations, while additional enhancements for simulating the effects of spruce budworm defoliation and hardwood stem form or risk have also been included. Consequently, model projection behavior has evolved over time yet shows reasonable alignment with regional expectations and available long-term benchmarking data. Future efforts will focus on refining stand-level growth along with regional estimates maximum stand density index and site productivity. FVS-ACD is available as stand-alone R package or an option under the NE Variant of FVS within FVS-Online.
Parent Publication
Keywords
forest management,
forest planning,
growth and yield,
vegetation dynamics,
habitat modeling,
carbon inventory,
landscape dynamics,
fire,
fuels,
climate change,
economics,
tree-rings
Citation
Weiskittel, Aaron; Kershaw, John; Crookston, Nick; Rice, Ben; Prior, Ian. 2024. Arcadian variant of the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS-ACD). In: Shaw, John D; Battaglia, Mike A.; Castle, Mark, [comps.]. Sixth Forest Vegetation Simulator Conference; 2023 March 7-9; Fort Collins, CO. Proceedings RMRS-P-81. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 14-18.
