Gaby Deckmyn

Profile

Scientific rigour, practical model design.

Gaby specialises in process-based models for agricultural and natural ecosystems. A quick learner with wide interest in ecology and agriculture and a love of mathematical equations, she has helped students develop models on many topics and tools as lecturer of the course Ecological modelling. She specialises in getting the logic of the model system correct, while data flow and optimal coding are typically developed together with her partner Gert Cauwenberg.

Her work helps research teams and organisations investigate complex systems, evaluate scenarios and derive insights from scientific data — currently including soil carbon modelling for carbon credits.

Professional experience

Research, teaching and applied modelling.

Skills

Model systems, data and statistics.

• Model development
• Data analysis
• Flowchart development
• Bayesian statistics
• Python
• Fortran
• R (basic)

Languages

Multilingual collaboration.

• Dutch — mother tongue
• English — fluent
• French — fluent
• German — basic
• Spanish — basic
• Hungarian — basic

Selected publications

Peer-reviewed scientific record.

A selection of publications illustrating the modelling work. DOIs link to the published articles.

• Deckmyn, Gaby, Omar Flores, Mathias Mayer, Xavier Domene, Andrea Schnepf, Katrin Kuka, Kris Van Looy, et al. 2020. “KEYLINK: Towards a More Integrative Soil Representation for Inclusion in Ecosystem Scale Models. I. Review and Model Concept.” PeerJ 8. https://doi.org/10.7717/PEERJ.9750
• Flores, Omar, Gaby Deckmyn, Jorge Curiel Yuste, Mathieu Javaux, Alexei Uvarov, van der Linde, De Vos, et al. 2021. “KEYLINK: Towards a More Integrative Soil Representation for Inclusion in Ecosystem Scale Models II: Model Description, Implementation and Testing.” PeerJ 9. https://doi.org/10.7717/PEERJ.10707
• Deckmyn, G., H. Verbeeck, M. op de Beeck, D. Vansteenkiste, K. Steppe, and R. Ceulemans. 2008. “ANAFORE: A Stand-scale Process-based Forest Model That Includes Wood Tissue Development and Labile Carbon Storage in Trees.” Ecological Modelling 215 (4): 345–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ECOLMODEL.2008.04.007
• Deckmyn, G., M. Campioli, B. Muys, and H. Kraigher. 2011. “Simulating C Cycles in Forest Soils: Including the Active Role of Micro-organisms in the ANAFORE Forest Model.” Ecological Modelling 222 (12): 1972–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ECOLMODEL.2011.03.011
• Deckmyn, Gaby, Sam P. Evans, and Tim J. Randle. 2006. “Refined Pipe Theory for Mechanistic Modeling of Wood Development.” Tree Physiology 26: 703–17. https://doi.org/10.1093/TREEPHYS/26.6.703
• Deckmyn, G., B. Muys, J. Garcia Quijano, and R. Ceulemans. 2004. “Carbon Sequestration Following Afforestation of Agricultural Soils: Comparing Oak/beech Forest to Short-rotation Poplar Coppice Combining a Process and a Carbon Accounting Model.” Global Change Biology 10: 1482–91. https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1365-2486.2004.00832.X
• Fu, Yongshuo H., Matteo Campioli, Gaston Demarée, Alex Deckmyn, Rafiq Hamdi, Ivan A. Janssens, and Gaby Deckmyn. 2012. “Bayesian Calibration of the Unified Budburst Model in Six Temperate Tree Species.” International Journal of Biometeorology 56 (1): 153–64. https://doi.org/10.1007/S00484-011-0408-7
• Vindušková, O., G. Deckmyn, M. Bortier, H.J. de Boeck, Y. Liu, and I. Nijs. 2023. “Combined Effects of Soil 3D Spatial Heterogeneity and Biotic Spatial Heterogeneity (plant Clumping) on Ecosystem Processes in Grasslands.” Ecology and Evolution 13 (10). https://doi.org/10.1002/ECE3.10604
• Deckmyn, Gaby, Bostjan Mali, Hojka Kraigher, Niko Torelli, op de Beek, and Reinhart Ceulemans. 2009. “Using the Process-based Stand Model ANAFORE Including Bayesian Optimisation to Predict Wood Quality and Quantity and Their Uncertainty in Slovenian Beech.” Silva Fennica 43 (3): 523–34. https://doi.org/10.14214/SF.204
• Schaubroeck, Thomas, Gaby Deckmyn, Olivier Giot, Matteo Campioli, Charlotte Vanpoucke, Kris Verheyen, Benedetto Rugani, et al. 2016. “Environmental Impact Assessment and Monetary Ecosystem Service Valuation of an Ecosystem Under Different Future Environmental Change and Management Scenarios: A Case Study of a Scots Pine Forest.” Journal of Environmental Management 173: 79–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JENVMAN.2016.03.005

Full publication list available on Google Scholar and in the source CV.