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Daniel B. Botkin

Solving environmental problems by understanding how nature works

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JABOWA 4 Forest Computer Model

NEW!  JABOWA FOREST MODEL FOR WINDOWS 7

And even newer! IMPROVED 2015 WINDOWS 7 VERSION FOR BOTH 32 AND 64 BIT COMPUTERS.

The Forest Model used widely around the world.

JABOWA ONSCREEN 200 DPI CROPPED P1010805
Now available for Windows 7. Download free trial below.

Forests are receiving increasing attention around the world. Controversies include the conservation of old-growth, whether clearcutting is good or bad, what the effects of global warming might be on forests, how forests can help reduce the rate of global warming, what kinds of disturbances, including fires, are natural and should be allowed to continue once started.

How can we better understand systems as complicated as forests? One major tool is computer simulation. The first successful computer simulation of forests was the JABOWA model developed in 1970 by Daniel B. Botkin, and James F. Janak and James R. Wallis, then of the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center. Since this, this kind of model, known among ecologists as "gap models" has spawned more than 50 versions used around the world, from Romania to Kenya to Australia.

The simulation grows individual trees on small plots and you can change almost anything about the forest and its environment, with the full model — the location of the forest, it elevation about sea level, its rainfall, its soil, the trees that are there at the beginning. You can try out different logging practices. You can introduce global warming temperature and rainfall changes. You can redefine species or create your own.

The program is available directly from this website.

Download 30 day free trial

JABOWA Forest Model pricing:

• Purchase and run the model for Windows 7 (single user) $150
• Purchase and run the model (multiple-users in a classroom) $450
• Purchase the source code (to make your own changes in the model) $995

Detailed information about how the JABOWA forest model works can be found in:

Botkin, D.B., 1993. Forest Dynamics: An Ecological Model, Oxford University Press.

Requests for information and program activation should be addressed to dan at danielbbotkin.com.

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From Daniel B. Botkin, Ph.D

Daniel Botkin
I believe we are mostly on the wrong track in the way we try to deal with the environment. Everything I do, study, learn, and advise about the environment is different from the status quo. Throughout my career, I have tried to understand how nature works and use that understanding to figure out how we can solve our most pressing environmental problems.

My process over the past 45 years has been to look carefully at the facts, make simple calculations from them (sometimes simple computer models) and then tell people what I have learned. It’s surprising how rarely people bother to look at the facts. This has surprised me every time I’ve started a new ecology research project or work on an environmental issue.

In the course of my work and studies, I have learned many things and I want to tell you about them. That is the purpose of this website.

Follow @danielbotkin

Books by Dan Botkin

The Moon in the Nautilus Shell  Strange Encounters
Powering the Future  No Man's Garden
See all books by Dan Botkin

Sea Ice Study

The Bockstoce and Botkin Historical Sea Ice Data Study has a new home at the University of Alaska website. The data include more than 52,000 daily observations in an unbroken 65 year record from 1849 – 1914.

See related papers

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