Parallelization of an ecological landscape model by functional decomposition

A functional scheme is described to parallelize computer simulations of grid-based ecological landscape models. The method is implemented using the Message Passing Interface protocol and is applied to the Everglades Landscape Vegetation Model. On a two-processor system, the speed-up is satisfactory and the overall performance of the program is competitive with traditional parallelization techniques such as geometrical decomposition. The method is discussed, timing information is provided for three different parallel machines, and some further developments are indicated.