Intercomparison of three biogeography models, BIOME2, MAPSS and DOLY

Journal Article · Thu Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995 · Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America

OSTI ID:95801

Haxeltine, A; Neilson, R P ^[1]

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1. Lund Univ. (Sweden)

Under the VEMAP program, funded by USDA-FS, NASA, NSF and EPRI, three global biogeography models were intercompared with respect to: (1) their ability to simulate current vegetation distribution; and (2) their sensitivities to global warming. The three models, BIOME2, MAPSS, and DOLY, were calibrated to an aggregated Kuechler vegetation map of 21 vegetation types over the conterminous U.S. using a common climate and soils database. Potential future vegetation distributions (steady-state) were then simulated under 2xCO{sub 2} climates generated by three General Circulation Models (GCM). Under current climate, the three models exhibit equal skill in simulating current potential vegetation distributions (excluding land use). However, under altered climates the models diverge significantly, with MAPSS producing the most severe loss of forests, BIOME2 the least and DOLY being intermediate. With respect to arid shrublands, DOLY produced the most severe increases; while, MAPSS and BIOME2 were similar with small responses.

• OSTI ID: 95801
• Report Number(s): CONF-9507129--
• Journal Information: Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, Journal Name: Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 76; ISSN BECLAG; ISSN 0012-9623
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CLIMATE MODELS
CLIMATIC CHANGE
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DISTRIBUTION
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
FORESTS
GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS
GEOGRAPHICAL VARIATIONS
GROUND COVER
SOILS