Spatial Dynamic Modeling of Tropical Forest Change

The main objective of my research is to use spatial dynamic models (a combination of Cellular Automata model and Agent-Based model, short for CA-model and AB-model) to simulate future scenarios of tropical forest in the Guanacaste region, Costa Rica. It is a multi-layer model, including three layers. The top one is CA-model layer, and it is used for simulating the tropical forest change and transmitting this change over time. The middle layer is AB-model layer. The factors in this part are non-spatial data (e.g. policy, population and economy). The bottom layer is constraint layer. It expresses how the geographical factors constrain and impact on forest change. I aim to obtain the following results: i) evolution of the tropical forest n during the past 34 years, ii) a multi-layer model used to reproduce the process of tropical forest change, and iii) future scenarios of forest change simulated by the model.

Faculty Supervisor:

Gerardo Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa

Student:

Partner:

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Alberta

Program: