SiTree: A framework to implement single-tree simulators

Abstract

SiTree is a flexible, cross-platform, open-source framework for individual-tree simulators intended to facilitate accurate and flexible analyses of forest growth and yield, or more generally forest dynamics simulations. SiTree provides generic functionality to build customized individual-tree simulators using additional user-written code. In the forestry literature there are a wide variety of individual models that describe the different parts of forest growth and dynamics and new models are continuously developed and published. The aim of SiTree is to provide a broad community of R-users within forestry with an easily adaptable individual-tree simulator framework and an easily accessible tool for testing and combining new and existing models describing parts of forest growth dynamics.