The Everglades Landscape Model employs the Spatial Modeling Environment version 1, an early version of SME 3 {site temporarily unavailable due to move by UM IEE to UVM} to
develop a spatially explicit, dynamic simulation model of the ecosystems
within a particular landscape. The SME executes the unit General Ecosystem Model (for the vertical solutions)
within each cell across the model landscape. The landscape is comprised of different
habitats distributed across the model cells, with canal vectors superimposed across this raster grid.
Only the model parameters vary
with habitats, with the model structure being fixed for all habitat types. Mass of water and nutrients are
transported among neighboring cells, while canal vectors flux water and nutrients rapidly across the system, exchanging mass with adjacent cells.
The pattern of the landscape may affect horizontal fluxes and within-cell
ecosystem processes, while the long-term cell dynamics can alter the pattern of
the raster landscape. The habitat-type designation may change during the course of a simulation in
response to changing ecological attributes of the grid cells.
