ALFRESCO and Habitat Research

Boreal ALFRESCO (ALaska FRame-based EcoSystem COde) simulates the responses of subarctic and boreal vegetation to climatic changes. This frame-based, spatially explicit model shows spatial processes of fire and recruitment across the circumpolar arctic/boreal zone. It combines disturbance events, seed dispersal, and succession on a landscape at a spatio-temporal scale appropriate for investigating effects of climatic change. ALFRESCO has been foundational to many SNAP and SNAP-related projects, and continues to play an important role in ecosystem modeling.

An overview of the model was published in the Journal “Earth Interactions” and a report on “Projected Vegetation and Fire Regime Response to Future Climate Change in National Parks in Interior Alaska” is available via the National Park Service.

For questions about this project and its outputs, including a summary report on the full Eastern Alaska region, please contact the SNAP Data Tools team.

Scott Rupp (UAF) and Jennifer Barnes (National Park Service) discuss fire trends due to climate change.