The ECOLOPES PLANT MODEL : a high-resolution model to simulate plant community dynamics in cities and other human-dominated and managed environments

Abstract

Cities and urbanized areas have become an important habitat for organisms. Although nature can provide multiple ecosystem services to humans, urban planning and architecture often do not adequately consider the ecological needs of species. In ECOLOPES we envision buildings, and in particular building envelopes, to be a joint habitat for humans, plants, animals and microbiota as equally relevant stakeholders. A centerpiece of the planning and design tools that ECOLOPES provides is a joint soil-plant-animal community model. We present the first prototype of the ECOLOPES PLANT (community) MODEL that responds to 3-dimensional (building) geometry and management, show potential applications as a stand-alone model, and discuss its technical and conceptual limitations that are yet to be overcome.