Development and Testing of a Decision Support System for River Restoration

AlanW/WS：开发和测试河流恢复决策支持系统这项研究的目标是使用跨学科的方法来探索景观变化如何影响河流生态系统，并评估恢复的优先顺序。利用空间数据，研究人员将把景观属性量化为河流状况的可能预测因子。物理和生物变量将提供对河流状况的独立评估，使私人投资者能够确定人类活动与河流系统生态状况之间的关系。将把当地社区喜欢的现有最佳管理做法和人类住区的创新形式纳入土地利用和河流状况之间的统计模型，以审查社会可接受性和恢复潜力之间的相互作用。通过对替代土地管理做法进行经济评估，私人投资机构将评估替代恢复做法的成本。预期结果是一套通用的量化分析工具，使决策者能够根据土地利用的创新替代办法、对生态完整性的预期影响和估计成本来确定恢复需求和机会。

ABSTRACT99-00679AllanW/WS: Development and testing of a decision support system for river restorationThe objective of this research is to use an interdisciplinary approach to explore how landscape change affects river ecosystems, and to evaluate restoration priorities. Using spatial data, the investigators will quantify landscape properties as possible predictors of stream condition. Physical and biological variables will provide independent assessment of stream condition, enabling the PIs to determine relationships between human activities and the ecological state of the river system. Available best management practices and innovative forms of human settlement that are preferred by the local community will be integrated into statistical models between land use and stream condition to examine the interaction between social acceptability and restoration potential. Through economic evaluation of alternative land management practices the PIs will evaluate the costs of restoration alternatives. The expected outcome is a generalized set of quantitative analysis tools that will enable decision-makers to target rehabilitation needs and opportunities based on innovative alternatives to land use, expected impact on ecological integrity, and estimated cost.