A spatio-temporal model for locations of trees in the Barro Colorado Island plot
Date:
Locations of alive trees in the 50-hectare permanent study plot in the tropical rain forest of Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Gatun Lake, Panama, have been recorded in 8 consecutive censuses since 1980. In each census, new trees tend to grow near existing trees in the preceding census due to seed dispersal mechanisms and favorable topography and soil conditions. On the other hand, the elimination of trees from one census to the next seems to occur more frequently in dense areas where there are competitions for resources and light among trees. We introduce a spatio-temporal model for population dynamics in the BCI plot and discuss parameter estimation methods and model checking tools for the introduced model.