Ecological Processes and Spatial Patterns Before, During and After Simulated Deforestation

Ecological processes and spatial patterns, before, during and after simulated deforestation are examined. A competition-colonization simulation, in which the primary trade offs are represented in a spatially explicit model, is used to explore the consequences of additional aspects of landscape dynamics following deforestation for plant diversity and community structure. Deforestation changes the spatial pattern of the landscape, and species respond differently because of their different dispersal abilities. The basic lessons of competition-colonization models for deforestation stand, but the ensured extinction implied by the extinction debt concept is further ameliorated as more realistic pattern-process relations are theorized.