State-and-Transition Simulation Models of Buffelgrass in Saguaro National Park (2014-2044) to explore ecological uncertainties

This is a spatially-explicit state-and-transition simulation model of buffelgrass dynamics in Saguaro National Park, AZ. Buffelgrass is an invasive grass spreading in the park. The model represents uninvaded and invaded parts of the desert ecosystem and includes a connection to a fire behavior model. The model was built using the ST-Sim software platform linked to the FARSITE fire behavior model. The St-SIM file structure includes three components: 1) Buffelgrass.ssim.input folder that houses the input files used by St-SIM, 2) the Buffelgrass.ssim.output folder which houses the scenario outputs used by St-SIM for visualization and export of data, and 3) Buffelgrass.ssim file which is opened by St-SIM to provide an interface to the model and outputs. This study contains several scenarios and their associated outputs. This particular database includes model scenarios for the two districts in Saguaro National Park, the Rincon Mountain District (RMD) and the Tucson Mountain District (TMD), with the inclusion of fire. From http://wiki.syncrosim.com/index.php?title=Main_Page: ST-Sim allows users to develop and run spatially-explicit, stochastic state-and-transition simulation models (STSMs) of vegetation change, and is designed to simulate and compare possible vegetation conditions across a landscape over time by considering the interaction between succession, disturbances and management. ST-Sim is the latest in a 20-year lineage of STSM development tools that includes the Vegetation Dynamics Development Tool (VDDT), the Tool for Exploratory Landscape Scenario Analysis (TELSA), and the Path Landscape Model (Path). ST-Sim is intended as an upgrade to Path: in addition to all of the previous Path features, ST-Sim also provides a new option to run raster-based, spatially-explicit simulations.