A study of parameter uncertainties causing uncertainties in modeling a grassland ecosystem using the conditional nonlinear optimal perturbation method

Abstract

In this paper, we apply the approach of conditional nonlinear optimal perturbation related to the parameter (CNOP-P) to study parameter uncertainties that lead to the stability (maintenance or degradation) of a grassland ecosystem. The maintenance of the grassland ecosystem refers to the unchanged or increased quantity of living biomass and wilted biomass in the ecosystem, and the degradation of the grassland ecosystem refers to the reduction in the quantity of living biomass and wilted biomass or its transformation into a desert ecosystem. Based on a theoretical five-variable grassland ecosystem model, 32 physical model parameters are selected for numerical experiments. Two types of parameter uncertainties could be obtained. The first type of parameter uncertainty is the linear combination of each parameter uncertainty that is computed using the CNOP-P method. The second type is the parameter uncertainty from multi-parameter optimization using the CNOP-P method. The results show that for the 32 model parameters, at a given optimization time and with greater parameter uncertainty, the patterns of the two types of parameter uncertainties are different. The different patterns represent physical processes of soil wetness. This implies that the variations in soil wetness (surface layer and root zone) are the primary reasons for uncertainty in the maintenance or degradation of grassland ecosystems, especially for the soil moisture of the surface layer. The above results show that the CNOP-P method is a useful tool for discussing the abovementioned problems.