Modelling an Untended Scottish Forest Ecosystem Utilising Standard and Customised Software

The Heron Wood Reserve in Peeblesshire, Scotland is a 7.5-hectare wood, left untended tofacilitate investigation into a natural Scottish Forest Ecosystem. Data on fungal fruiting have been collectedsince 1994, and since November 2000 physico-chemical and biotic experiments on soil and forest litter havealso been conducted with the aim to construct and integrate a number of simulation sub-models of the variousecological systems present in an untended Scottish woodland. Important systems for modelling includepatterns of fungal succession, habitat characteristics and fungal biochemical patterns. For example, Glomalin,a protein secreted by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, is believed to bind soil particles together in stablestructures called aggregates. During the last 40 years, nearly one third of the world's arable land was lost byerosion, with a current loss rate of more than 10 million hectares per year [Pimentel et al. 1995, Science, 267,1117-1123]. Modelling this system facilitates the understanding of a paramount component of soil ecology.A large volume of data has been collected so computer software is used for the storage and handling of data.Microsoft Access is the database used for storage, Microsoft Excel is the spreadsheet used for variouscalculations and customised software written in Microsoft Visual Basic and Microsoft VBA allowscommercially unavailable statistical tests to be carried out, and the quick display of data in a suitable manner.Model Maker software is used to construct and test models formulated from the data and ultimately tofacilitate the running of various simulations to make predictions within these important ecological subsystems.