Barreiro, SusanaRua, JoãoTomé, Margarida2017-06-092017-06-092016Barreiro, S., Rua, J., Tomé, M. (2016). StandsSIM-MD: a Management Driven forest SIMulator. Forest Systems, Volume 25, Issue 2, eRC072171-9845http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/13746Resource CommunicationAim of the study: The existing stand level forest simulators available in Portugal were not developed with the aim of including up-to-date model versions and were limited in terms of accounting for forest management. The simulators’ platform, sIMfLOR was recently created to implement different growth models with a common philosophy. The objective was developing one easily-updatable, user-friendly, forest management and climate change sensitive simulator capable of projecting growth for the main tree species in Portugal. Area of the study: Portugal. Material and methods: The new simulator was programmed in a modular form consisting of several modules. The growth module integrates different forest growth and yield models (empirical and process-based) for the main wood production tree species in Portugal (eucalypt, stone pine and maritime pine), the management module drives the growth projections along the planning horizon according to a range of forest management approaches and climate (at present only available for eucalypt). Main results: The main result is the StandsSIM-MD Management Driven simulator that overcomes the limitations of the existing stand level simulators. It is a step forward when compared to the models currently available in the sIMfLOR platform covering more tree species, stand structures and stand compositions. It is focused on end-users and it is based on similar concepts regarding the creation of required inputs and generated outputs. Research highlights: — Forest Management Driven simulations approach — Multiple Prescriptions-Per-Stand functionality — StandsSIM-MD can be used to support landowners decisions on stand Forest management — StandsSIM-MD simulations at regional level can be combined with optimization routinesengforest simulatorforest management approachesStandsSIM-MDforest managementjournal articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.5424/fs/2016252-08916