Búmodel

Búmodel: an environmental simulation model of historical land management in the North Atlantic

Búmodel is an environmental simulation model that facilitates the integration of landscape ecology, environmental archaeology and historical analysis. The purpose of the model is to predict spatial and temporal patterns of vegetation biomass and production and utilisation (grazing, hay making) in a historical landscape. The model has been parameterised using contemporary and historical agricultural and vegetation information for Iceland. Model inputs can be derived from different sources:

Historical vegetation reconstruction: from pollen analysis, historical records, landscape ecology, historical maps
Livestock numbers: from historical farm surveys, archaeological excavations
Climate scenarios: from historical records, proxy data (sea ice), modern analogues
Management information: from historical records, zooarchaeological reconstructions

Búmodel can be loosely coupled with a geographic information system (GIS) so that spatially-based model inputs and outputs can be displayed and analysed in map form.

Búmodel was developed in the School of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the University of Stirling by Amanda Thomson, a doctoral student, now at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

REFERENCES
Thomson, A.M., 2003. A modelling approach to farm management and vegetation degradation in pre-modern Iceland. PhD Thesis, University of Stirling, Stirling, 301 pp. http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/dspace/handle/1893/23
Thomson, A.M. and Simpson, I.A., 2006. A grazing model for simulating the impact of historical land management decisions in sensitive landscapes: Model design and validation. Environmental Modelling and Software, 21: 1096-1113. DOI:10.1016/j.envsoft.2005.05.008
Thomson, A.M. and Simpson, I.A., in press. Modeling historic rangeland management and grazing pressures in landscapes of settlement. Human Ecology.
Thomson, A.M., Simpson, I.A. and Brown, J.L., 2005. Sustainable rangeland grazing in Norse Faroe. Human Ecology, 33(5): 737-761. DOI: 10.1007/s10745-005-7596-x

Archaeology climate change farming grazing historical records Iceland land management livestock zooarchaeology

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