Other land-use - IMAGE
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| Model information | |
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| Institution | PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), Netherlands, https://www.pbl.nl/en. |
| Solution concept | Partial equilibrium (price elastic demand) |
| Solution method | Simulation |
| Anticipation | Simulation modelling framework, without foresight. However, a simplified version of the energy/climate part of the model (called FAIR) can be run prior to running the framework to obtain data for climate policy simulations. |
LPJmL is a Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (DGVM) that was developed initially to assess the role of the terrestrial biosphere in the global carbon cycle IMG_Prentice_2007. DGVMs simulate vegetation distribution and dynamics, using the concept of multiple plant functional types (PFTs) differentiated according to their bioclimatic (e.g. temperature requirement), physiological, morphological, and phenological (e.g. growing season) attributes, and competition for resources (light and water).
To aggregate the vast diversity of plant species worldwide, with respect to major differences relevant to the carbon cycle, LPJmL distinguishes nine plant functional types. These include e.g. tropical evergreen trees, temperate deciduous broad-leaved trees and C3 herbaceous plants. Plant dynamics are computed for each PFT present in a grid cell. As IMAGE uses the concept of biomes (natural land cover types), combinations of PFTs in an area/grid cell are translated into a natural land cover (biome) type (see Plant functional types and natural land cover types).