A neutral vs. non-neutral parametrizations of a physiological forest gap model

The number of groups turned out to be an important characteristic of the model which influences its results on a fundamental level. Steady-states characteristics of forests like stem-numbers and stem-size distributions can be successfully simulated with even a single species group while modeling the long-term dynamics requires a higher number of groups. On the downside, a higher number of groups makes parameterization and fitting of the model more difficult. We conclude that the number of species groups is a vital characteristic of a forest model which has far-reaching consequences for its results and needs to be chosen with care.