Overview

My research seeks to develop and enhance modelling tools for understanding and predicting the dynamics of complex forest ecosystems. Models that both incorporate mechanistic realism and are well constrained by data are necessary for understanding the long-term behaviour of multi-species, multi-cohort forest stands. Such models can provide valuable insights into forest responses to human-induced disturbances and environmental change.

Current projects

CAIN: a scalable model of individudual-based forest dynamics. I have developed a new individual-based forest model that captures essential, general features of tree demography, including size- and competition-dependency of vital rates. Unlike most existing forest models, CAIN can be calibrated using widespread observations of tree growth and mortality available in forest inventory data. This model is currently being used to understand regional forest dynamics in the eastern United States, including how the distribution of different forest types arises from climate-dependent demographic variation.

The importance of tree demography to the terrestrial carbon cycle. As part of the Carbon-Climate Feedback Modelling project, I am seeking to incorporate realistic representations of forest dynamics into a new model of the terrestrial carbon cycle. The rates at which forests uptake and release carbon follow from the growth and mortality of individual trees, but these tree-level processes are not typically represented in models that simulate vegetation dynamics at broad scales. How important are local demographic processes to understanding carbon dynamics for the world's terrestrial ecosystems?

Inferring forest structure and disturbance dynamics with LiDAR remote sensing data. LiDAR is a powerful tool for scaling between plot-based measurements of individual trees and the structure and dynamics of broad forest landscapes. David Coomes and I co-supervise Rebecca Spriggs, a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, who is combining CAIN's canopy sub-model with LiDAR data for a temperate forest landscape in Ontario, Canada. By linking LiDAR data with a model of canopy structure, this project will develop a new mechanistic approach for mapping tree-level forest structure across broad areas.

Students

Rebbeca Spriggs, University of Cambridge (with David Coomes)

Publications

Caspersen, John P., Vanderwel, Mark C., Cole, William G., Purves, and Drew W., How stand productivity results from size- and competition-dependent growth and mortality, in PLoS ONE, vol. 6, no. 12, pp. e28660, 2011
Vanderwel, Mark C., Caspersen, John P., Malcolm, Jay R., Papaik, Michael J., Messier, and Christian, Structural changes and potential vertebrate responses following simulated partial harvesting of boreal mixedwood stands, in Forest Ecology and Management, vol. 261, pp. 1362-1371, 2011
Vanderwel, Mark C., Malcolm, Jay R., Caspersen, John P., Newman, and Mark A., Fine-scale habitat associations of red-backed voles in boreal mixedwood stands, in Journal of Wildlife Management, vol. 74, pp. 1492-1501, 2010
Thorpe, H.C., Vanderwel, M.C., Fuller, M.M., Thomas, S.C., Caspersen, and J.P., Modelling stand development after partial harvests: an empirically based, spatially explicit analysis for lowland black spruce, in Ecological Modelling, vol. 221, pp. 256-267, 2010
Vanderwel, Mark C., Thorpe, Hilary C., Caspersen, and John P., Contributions of harvest slash to maintaining downed woody debris in selection-managed forests, in Canadian Journal of Forest Research, vol. 40, pp. 1680-1685, 2010
Vanderwel, M.C., Malcolm, J.R., Smith, and S.M., Long-term snag and downed woody debris dynamics under periodic surface fire, fire suppression, and shelterwood management, in Canadian Journal of Forest Research, vol. 39, pp. 1709-1721, 2009
Vanderwel, M.C., Mills, S.C., Malcolm, and J.R., Effects of partial harvesting on vertebrate species associated with late-successional forests in Ontario’s boreal region, in Forestry Chronicle, vol. 85, pp. 91-104, 2009
Vanderwel, M.C., Thorpe, H.C., Shuter, J.L., Caspersen, J.P., Thomas, and S.C., Contrasting downed woody debris dynamics in managed and unmanaged northern hardwood stands, in Canadian Journal of Forest Research, vol. 38, pp. 2850-2861, 2008
Vanderwel, M.C., Malcolm, J.R., Mills, and S.C., A meta-analysis of bird responses to uniform partial harvesting across North America, in Conservation Biology, vol. 21, pp. 1230-1240, 2007
Holloway, G.L., Caspersen, J.P., Vanderwel, M.C., Naylor, and B.J., Cavity tree occurrence in hardwood forests of central Ontario, in Forest Ecology and Management, vol. 239, pp. 191-199, 2007
Vanderwel, M.C., Malcolm, J.R., Smith, S.M., Islam, and N., Insect community composition and trophic guild structure in decaying logs from eastern Canadian pine-dominated forests, in Forest Ecology and Management, vol. 225, pp. 190-199, 2006
Vanderwel, M.C., Caspersen, J.P., Woods, and M.E., Snag dynamics in partially-harvested and unmanaged northern hardwood forests, in Canadian Journal of Forest Research, vol. 36, pp. 2769-2779, 2006
Vanderwel, M.C., Malcolm, J.R., Smith, and S.M., An integrated model for snag and downed woody debris decay class transitions, in Forest Ecology and Management, vol. 234, pp. 48-59, 2006