Fire Ecology Simulator by Richard Rathe

      Cycles     0    Ltng 0    Fire 0    Climate     Rain 4
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2
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   0    0    0    0    0    0
 
Rock
 
Water
 
Grass
 
Poplar
 
Pine
 
Cedar
 
Death
 
Ltning
 
Fire
 
Debug

Background

 Fire  is a necessary feature of many ecosystems. It helps clear out old growth and often prevents dominance by one or more climax species. Some plants even specialize to exploit the ecological opportunities created by fire. This simulator attempts to capture some of these dynamics.

Basic Structure

The Grid above represents a forest divided into hexagonal cells. Some of these are occupied by  water  or  rocks , which obviously do not burn. Three tree species (outlined below) compete for the open land that remains. Trees have specific reproductive rules and lifespans,  dying  naturally if they are not otherwise disturbed.

Rainfall (0-9) is the major variable that affects tree growth and the spread of fires. Rainfall in turn is affected by Climate, represented by a positive or negative value on the pulldown menu. Drought conditions will also lead to the  death  of random trees not near water.

 Lightening  strikes occur at random and sometimes lead to  fires . Fires spread randomly and are stopped by water or rocks.

 Grass  covers open areas after a fire or when trees die of old age. Grasslands remain forever if not colonized by trees.

 Poplar  is the fastest growing but shortest-lived tree species. It can quickly colonize grassland due to its wind-borne seeds, but it cannot penetrate established stands of other tree species.

 Pine  is longer-lived than poplar, but requires a nearby seed tree to reproduce. It is fire-adapted and can take over from other species.

 Cedar  is the longest-lived species but is fire-intolerant. It will only reproduce in areas where fire has been absent for several cycles.

History

Back in 1978, as a Biology major at Carleton College, I did my senior thesis on the Fire Ecology of Northern Minnesota. A few years later I wrote my first fire ecology simulation program on a fancy handheld calculator with a multi-color pen plotter. A few years after that I rewrote the program using Hypercard on an early Mac computer. This third iteration is based on Web Standards and will run on any modern browser or smartphone.

Data Output (CSV)