What's New Archive

Version 6.09, released February 1, 2008

• The new Storm Direct Killer behavior kills trees as a direct result of storm intensity, without resorting to a separate damage step. This behavior can be used for seedlings.
• The new Detailed Substrate behavior uses a greatly expanded log decay model.
• The new Competition Harvest behavior removes trees based on their competitive effects on their neighbors.
• The new Ripley's K and Relative Neighborhood Density Calculator behaviors provide new spatial indexes.
• You can now schedule a specific set of storms for the Storm disturbance behavior, either alone or in combination with a storm regime.
• Tree maps can be added as a link to a text file rather than imported into the parameter file. This allows easier use of very large tree maps.
• Several more components have been added to the Partitioned DBH Biomass behavior, and there is now a line graph chart option for the Partitioned Biomass grid.
• The Storm Light behavior now uses trees that died of natural mortality in addition to storm damage in its calculations of light levels.
• Storm results for the Storm disturbance behavior now have a table option in the data visualization system for detailed output files.

• You can now change the cell resolution when defining subplots.
• There were several bug fixes related to creating and using detailed output files.
• The Harvest Interface behavior now stores its results in the Harvest Results grid, allowing reporting and compatibility with certain other behaviors.
• Storm events were made more independent for the Storm disturbance behavior.
• The Random Browse behavior can now vary its browse probabilities each timestep according to a normal distribution.

Version 6.08 released May 24, 2007

• The new behavior Snag Decay Class Dynamics introduces a new method for simulating snag decay and fall
• The new behavior Random browse simulates herbivory
• The new Browsed relative growth behaviors simulate the effects of herbivory on tree growth
• The new Browsed Stochastic Mortality behavior simulates the effects of herbivory on tree mortality
• The new Masting spatial disperse behavior simulates periodic masting in seed dispersal
• The new Neighborhood seed predation behavior simulates seed predation as a function of neighborhood and recent masting events
• The addition of browse to Height-GLI Weibull Mortality with Browse allows this behavior to simulate the effects of herbivory on tree mortality
• The new analysis behaviors Storm Killed Partitioned DBH Biomass and Storm Killed Partitioned Palm Biomass allow the tracking of biomass killed in storm events
• You can copy a species, including all its behaviors and parameters, using the Tree setup window
• You can change the order of species using the Tree setup window
• The Storm disturbance behavior now includes optional cyclicity in storm patterns
• The Storm Light behavior now uses a proportion of trees with damage instead of a straight count when figuring light levels
• The Basal Area Light behavior now searches a neighborhood with a defined radius rather than just the trees within a grid cell

• Hovering the mouse over a cell in a grid map will cause the value at that point to be displayed
• You can now remove the "Total" line from line graphs
• The output for histograms is now written in table format when saving a text file for the entire run
• When creating a batch file, you can now select and add multiple files at once
• The size of DBH circles on the XY Tree Map change size to match zooming
• The summary output file plot table now has a "go to timestep" control
• The values in the Dispersed Seeds grid are now available for output
• Fixed bugs relating to the adding, removing, and renaming of species
• Fixed a bug with how the Planting behavior dealt with plot edges

Version 6.07 released November 30, 2006

• You can now track subplots for detailed output files
• The File menu now has an option for setting a working directory
• New analysis behavior - Partitioned DBH Biomass, which calculates biomass separated out by branch, leaf, and bole
• New analysis behavior - Partitioned Palm Biomass, which calculates biomass separated out by leaf and bole
• New light behavior - Average Light, which averages together existing GLI calculations
• New disturbance behavior - Harvest Interface, which provides a link between SORTIE and a separate application for doing harvests
• New mortality behavior - Aggregated Mortality, which clumps together tree death in both time and space
• New mortality behavior - Exponential Growth and Resource-Based Mortality, which calculates mortality as a probability of growth and a second resource
• New light behavior - Constant GLI, which provides the same value of GLI to every tree (this behavior replaces the Constant full GLI behavior)
• Added the possibility of cyclicity in storm frequency and intensity through time to Windstorm

• Clicking on an output graph to bring it to the front causes its legend to come to the front as well
• The extra step of clicking a button to save a file has been eliminated when editing a batch file
• The XY Tree Map now has a minimum display DBH control
• If multiple output files are open and you choose "File-> Close output file" from the main menu, you will have an option to close all of the files at once
• The Tree setup window has a new button for adding a tree map to the current parameter file
• If multiple behaviors use the same grid, that grid will display correctly for entering grid maps
• The Grid value edit window now correctly saves the last value entered even if the cell is still in edit mode
• Fixed bug that caused changes to output settings for members of grids to become new entries rather than replacement entries; this also caused the output settings for grids and trees to behave in the same way
• Fixed a bug allowing Puerto Rico semi-stochastic growth to set a negative tree DBH in some circumstances
• Fixed a bug that caused designing complicated subplots to slow and eventually crash when too many cells were clicked
• Changed the way neighbor storm damage was treated for NCI growth and NCI mortality

Version 6.06 released March 31, 2006

• New allometry equation for saplings - the power diameter-height relationship
• Updated allometry equation - the DBH - diameter at 10 cm relationship now has an intercept term
• New seed survival behavior - Storm Light Dependent Seed Survival, which works with the light levels produced by the Storm Light behavior
• New mortality behavior - Stochastic Bi-Level Mortality, which uses two different mortality rates in high and low light
• New disturbance behavior - Windstorm, which follows a given storm regime to produce storms and kill trees as a result
• New growth behavior - Basal Area NCI Growth, which calculates tree growth as a function of neighborhood basal area
• New light behavior - Basal Area Light, which calculates light levels as a function of neighborhood basal area of angiosperms and conifers
• New disturbance behavior - Storm Killer - that kills trees damaged in storms. This behavior takes over and expands a function previously performed by the Storm Damage Applier behavior
• New analysis behavior - Tree Age, which tracks tree ages
• New mortality behavior - Height-GLI Weibull Mortality, which calculates tree mortality as a function of tree height and light levels
• New growth behavior - Puerto Rico Storm Bi-Level Growth, which uses two functions to calculate growth before and after storms
• New analysis behavior - Merchantable Timber Value, which calculates the value of merchantable timber in a plot
• New analysis behavior - Carbon Value, which calculates the amount of carbon in a plot and its value
• Stand and Stock output tables now display species-specific values as well as plot total values
• The Storm Light behavior has an updated equation for light calculation
• The main window is now equipped with scroll bars, to allow you to use more space when viewing charts and graphs
• The Tree Setup window is now capable of changing the name of a species
• The Density Dependent Seed Survival behavior's survival area has been standardized to per square meter
• The Relative Michaelis-Menton growth behaviors now have an additional exponent on diameter
• The Substrate behavior uses a new equation for decayed log decay
• Developers: The C++ model code has been ported to the GCC compiler set and the Eclipse development environment

Version 6.05 released August 3, 2005

• The Substrate behavior has been rewritten to combine all current substrate models into one behavior
• New establishment behavior - Establishment with Microtopography - that allows seedlings to have a rooting height above the ground
• Two new allometry equations for crown shape - the Chapman-Richards function
• The stock and stand tables for detailed output now have a mean DBH column
• The equation for mean annual increment in the stock table has changed
• Bug fix - seedlings that use either the GLI light or Sail light behaviors automatically use a top-of-crown fisheye photo point
• Changes have been made to the Parameters window to make parameter editing easier
• Changes have been made to output table formatting to make them easier to read

Version 6.04 released May 16, 2005

• You can now choose the appropriate allometry equation for each species for each life history stage
• You can now set the height boundary between seedlings and saplings for trees
• The establishment behaviors have been restructured, allowing you to mix and match seed survival effects
• The Storm damage applier behavior can create tip-ups from storm-killed trees
• New harvest behavior - Selection harvest - that allows SORTIE-ND to decide when to perform harvests based on target basal area levels
• New behavior - GLI Points File Creator - which calculates GLI at certain specific points
• New light behavior - Storm Light behavior - that uses storm damage as a proxy for finding light levels
• New growth behavior - Puerto Rico semi-stochastic growth
• New growth behavior - Linear bi-level growth - that can grow trees with two sets of parameters based on light level
• New growth behavior - Lognormal bi-level growth - that can grow trees with two sets of parameters based on light level
• New mortality behavior - Logistic Bi-Level Mortality - that can use two sets of parameters based on light level
• NCI growth and NCI Mortality now each have a flag for whether or not to include snags in NCI calculations
• Refinement of substrate dynamics for snags, allowing them to tip-up at different rates from live trees

Version 6.03 released April 6, 2005

• New function form for the NCI Mortality behavior
• New mortality behavior which calculates mortality as a function of neighbor density - the Density Self-Thinning Mortality behavior
• New format for tab-delimited tree maps, which can be prepared in any spreadsheet program and added to SORTIE-ND
• New data visualization chart type - histograms for grid values
• New behavior for calculating tree volume - the Tree bole volume calculator behavior
• Updated Substrate behavior documentation
• New behavior for calculating tree biomass - the Dimension analysis behavior
• New feature for running batches
• NCI behaviors (NCI Mortality and NCI growth) now have a parameter for minimum DBH of crowding neighbors
• The Storm damage applier behavior now can kill trees immediately as a result of storm damage
• Changes to the File menu options

Version 6.02 released March 10, 2005

• New tree data members for Light level and Diameter Growth
• New behavior for creating GLI maps - Gap Light behavior.
• New line graphs in data visualization for relative volume and absolute volume.
• Seedling initial density can now be controlled by three height classes.
• New growth-based mortality behavior - Competition Mortality.
• New mortality as a function of growth and a second resource - Growth and Resource-Based Mortality.
• New function form for the NCI growth behaviors.
• New growth functions using a double Michaelis-Menton function of light and a second resource - Double resource relative growth.
• New light behavior which simplifies GLI calculations for extremely competitive gap dynamics - Gap Light behavior.
• New growth behavior for simulating extremely competitive gap dynamics - Stochastic gap growth.
• Snag size classes for the Weibull snag mortality behavior are now species-specific.