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Free and Open Source Platform for Modelling Wind Risk and Growth of Pine Forests

FOSPREF-Wind is a collaboration aiming to develop a Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) GIS platform for modelling stand-level growth and the risk of wind-damage whilst accounting for climate change. The project is specifically developing models for pine forests in Europe, including species such as Scots pine, Maritime pine and Radiata pine. The FOSS modelling chain will be implemented within QGIS’ Toolbox functionalities and consist of two process-based models: the growth model 3-PG (Landsberg and Waring, 1997) and Forest Research's wind risk model ForestGALES (Hale et al., 2015).

The collaboration is a two-year project funded by the EFI Network Fund, and brings together European Universities and forest research Institutes.

 

Research objectives

• Producing fgr; an R package for the ForestGALES wind risk model;

• Adapting a FOSS version of the model 3-PG (Landsberg and Waring, 1997) for the QGIS Toolbox;

• Implementing a modelling framework consisting of fgr and 3-PG (FOSS) within QGIS’ Toolbox;

• Testing the modelling chain on a case study: an area of Scots pine forest in Latvia;

• Projecting tree growth rates and wind climate via further case studies in project partner countries, including an area of pine forest in Scotland;

• Producing guidelines and recommendations for the modelling platform.

Latest updates

  • First project meeting held at NEIKER-Tecnalia in the Spanish Basque Country;
  • The R package of ForestGALES (fgr) is now in its beta-testing phase;
  • Next project meeting arranged for February 2019 at our Northern Research Station (NRS);
  • Staff from the University of Lisbon will visit NRS to work on stand growth modelling;
  • Staff from the Latvian and the Polish forest research Institutes will join our staff in discussions about the large-scale implementation of our ForestGALES DSS with Forest Districts in northern Scotland.

Our Involvement

Forest Research is the project leader contributing our expertise on wind risk, growth modelling, and climate change effects on forests.

Funding and Partners

Funding for travel, sustenance, and organisational costs is provided by the European Forest Institute (EFI) via their European Network Fund.

Collaborators include:

NEIKER-Tecnalia

University of Lisbon – Instituto Superior de Agronomia

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

IBL – Polish Forest Research Institute

SILAVA – Latvian Forest Research Institute

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