Multifunctional management alternatives to optimise different ecosystem services using CAFE DSS: a case study with a semiarid pine plantation

Abstract

This repository contains the code, input files and results supporting a study on coupling a process-based ecohydrological model (Biome-BGCMuSo) with multi-objective optimisation for forest planning in low-productivity Mediterranean systems. It includes three additions to the CAFE decision support system: an automatic calibration plugin based on multi-objective evolutionary algorithms, which removes the need for expert intervention in parameterising the model for a new site; two new ecosystem service metrics, an ignition risk index based on fuel availability and a prospective assessment of resistance and resilience to drought; and the analysis routines used to quantify how each management decision affects each service. The workflow is demonstrated on a semi-arid Pinus halepensis plantation in Valencia, Spain, where long-term experimental data allow the behaviour of the coupled model to be tested against observed responses to thinning. All results are included, so the figures and tables of the paper can be reproduced without re-running the model. Biome-BGCMuSo itself is not distributed; see the README for details.