Landscape analysis and simulation shell (LASS)

We present a set of models for simulating vegetation dynamics in disturbance-prone ecosystems with different complexity levels, integrated in a modelling environment for generating landscapes and analysing landscape patterns and simulation results (LASS). Three spatially explicit simulation models with different degrees of complexity are included in LASS: a qualitative simulation model (presence/absence of species in the grid system; the MELCA model), a model based on the semiquantitative abundance of different species in each cell (the FATELAND model) and a quantitative individual-based model of vegetation dynamics (the BROLLA model); all of them are in a spatially explicit framework. Examples for using the LASS environment and the simulation models are provided.