Summary

Climate determines the distribution of forest types globally and also affects the adaptation of populations within a species to climate locally. Thus, climate data are essential for climate change-related studies. There are many sources to obtain climate data. However, the quality of the climate data and availability of climate variables vary considerably. It is important to use the best sources to conduct ecological modelling.  Between the two types of ecological models, analytical models, analytical models, also called empirical models, are built based on direct relationships derived from field observations. Simulation models, on the other hand, are to simulate the detail physical or physiological processes.