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Tropical Deforestation Frontier 2D

Interactive 2D top-down simulation of a tropical forest plot losing or regaining canopy cover cell by cell, driven by deforestation rate, clearing pattern, protected-area enforcement and reforestation, with live forest-cover, biodiversity and carbon-stock readouts.

Ecology & Conservation Biology2DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version
2d-ecology-topic-98 ↗ Open standalone

Tropical forest loss is not one uniform process — a hands-on selective logger removes scattered single trees, while an advancing agricultural frontier clear-cuts contiguous blocks, and a protected reserve or zero-deforestation-committed concession can hold a line against both. This top-down 2D companion grows a small forest plot on a 22×22 grid and lets you dial in a deforestation rate, a clearing pattern between those two extremes, how strictly a central reserve is enforced, and a reforestation rate that can only regrow where a seed source survives nearby. Watch forest cover, an estimated biodiversity remaining (via the species–area relationship, penalized extra for fragmentation) and carbon stock respond in real time — the same cellular model as the 3D version, viewed straight down instead of in perspective.

⚙ Under the hood

Interactive 2D top-down simulation of a tropical forest plot losing or regaining canopy cover cell by cell, driven by a deforestation rate, a clearing pattern between scattered selective logging and contiguous agricultural clear-cutting, protected-reserve enforcement and a seed-limited reforestation rate, with live forest-cover, biodiversity (species-area relationship) and carbon-stock readouts.

Canvas2DDeforestationBiodiversityCarbon StockFragmentation

2D · Canvas2D renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install

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