Abstract for: Dwarf Shrubs Alichur: GIS-SD Hybrid Model

This paper introduces the model “Dwarf shrubs Alichur”, a hybrid model combining System Dynamics (SD) and geoinformationsystem (GIS). The model is employed to outline how spatial resolution may enhance visual presentation of SD modeling results and to yield insights into the system described. It uses GIS to preprocess space related data for spatially dynamic simulation. The model focusses on the spatial and temporal availability and utilization of biomass around the case study village of Alichur. The area under investigation is tessellated using a hexagon grid. The likelihood of a grid cell to be harvested is determined by its accessibility from the village of Alichur. Local growth of biomass is determined by the present amount of biomass at the given location and is at optimum for shrub stands having a density of 0.5. Biomasses at different locations and simulation times are exported into GIS and visualized in a vivid manner. Two scenarios are compared, harvest at growth optimum and harvest far from growth optimum. The model yields space demand to satisfy the village’s biomass needs for both scenarios. By means of presenting simulation results in GIS, scenario results are improved in terms of usability and communicability as in comparison to classical SD presentation techniques.