A process-based model of spatio-temporal dynamics of carbon and nitrogen in the case of Ardahan watershed

Not only are soil organic carbon and nitrogen (SOC-N) budgets closely coupled to one another but also to all the (a)biotic ecosystem components. In other words, they are the most significant indicator of biological, edafic and ecosystem productivity and sustainability. The modeling of the spatio-temporal dynamics of SOC-N budgets is the most basic foundation of better understanding, monitoring, predicting and managing past, present and future ecosystem health. Not only do the spatio-temporal dynamics of SOC-N reflect the interaction among global climate change, land uses, management practices, and all the other human-induced distrubances but also they are linked to food security. In this thesis; taking the CENTURY (Parton et al., 1993) and SOCRATES (Grace et al., 2006) model algorithms as the reference, a mechanistic (process-based) SOC-N model (SOCNAnatolia) was developed using the STELLA programing language. The spatio-temporal unit of the model is t C-N/ha/month. Insights and recommendations as to how SOC-N dynamics changed in Ardahan watershed, and what sustainable management practices should be adopted were posed through the realization of scenario analyses with this model.