A graphical user interface for numerical modeling of acclimation responses of vegetation to climate change

Ecophysiological models that vertically resolve vegetation canopy states are becoming a powerful tool for studying the exchange of mass, energy, and momentum between the land surface and the atmosphere. A mechanistic multilayer canopy-soil-root system model (MLCan) developed by Drewry et al. (2010a) has been used to capture the emergent vegetation responses to elevated atmospheric CO ₂ for both C ₃ and C ₄ plants under various climate conditions. However, processing input data and setting up such a model can be time-consuming and error-prone. In this paper, a graphical user interface that has been developed for MLCan is presented. The design of this interface aims to provide visualization capabilities and interactive support for processing input meteorological forcing data and vegetation parameter values to facilitate the use of this model. In addition, the interface also provides graphical tools for analyzing the forcing data and simulated numerical results. The model and its interface are both written in the MATLAB programming language. Finally, an application of this model package for capturing the ecohydrological responses of three bioenergy crops (maize, miscanthus, and switchgrass) to local environmental drivers at two different sites in the Midwestern United States is presented.