Forest Vegetation Simulator
The Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) is a forest growth simulation model. It simulates forest vegetation changes, recognizes all major tree species and can simulate nearly any type of management or disturbance at any time during the simulation.
Cost / License
- Free
- Open Source
Platforms
- Windows
Forest Vegetation Simulator
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Forest Vegetation Simulator information
Developed by
Forest Management Service Center Licensing
Open Source and Free product.Alternatives
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- English
What is Forest Vegetation Simulator?
The Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) is a family of forest growth simulation models. It is a system of highly integrated analytical tools that is based upon a body of scientific knowledge developed from decades of natural resources research and experience. Since the development of the first model for northern Idaho in 1973, FVS has evolved into a collection of “variants” which represent different geographic areas across the country.
FVS answers questions about how forest vegetation will change in response to natural succession, disturbances, and proposed management actions. Extensions to the base model are available to assess the effects of insects, disease, and fire. The Fire & Fuels Extension (FFE) includes live tree, dead tree, down dead wood and forest floor biomass information, which can be used to estimate changes in carbon stocks over time.
A climate-sensitive version known as Climate-FVS is currently available for western states, and an eastern version is in development. Climate-FVS changes core growth, mortality, and regeneration estimates to respond to climate change, according a user-selected general circulation model (GCM), thereby allowing users to model the effects of management under changing climate conditions.