Workshop on modeling disturbances in the Western Carpathians
On March 22-23, 2018 we held a workshop focused on modeling natural disturbances in the Western Carpathian mountains
A key element of RESIN is cross-border collaboration with disturbance experts all across Central Europe, aiming to build a critical mass of knowhow on disturbance dynamics in the region. The interaction with colleagues working in different systems inter alia allows us to compare patterns and drivers within the region, improving our understanding of disturbance dynamics. One very promising formal means for such an analysis across the region that we follow within RESIN is the application of a consistent simulation methodology (iLand) to landscapes situated in very different ecological settings.
In order to facilitate such a model-based analysis across the region we are collaborating with a group of scientists from Czechia and Slovakia led by Tomáš Hlásny. Over the last 1.5 years Tomáš’ team has worked intensively on parameterizing and testing iLand for the Western Carpathians. On March 22-23, 2018 we held a workshop in Vienna (the second of this kind), focused on how we to facilitate simulations in the Carpathians, and scoping out research questions that should be addressed in the future.
The meeting was a productive combination of talking about modeling details (e.g., how to set up and run a process-based wind disturbance model if no good wind data are available for a region) and discussions about potential future research questions to be addressed. Overall, we’ve made good progress, and look forward to the exciting results coming out of this collaboration in the future. We’re also grateful to the COST-Action PROFOUND, which provided travel support for a subset of the group traveling to Vienna.