ECOLOGICAL MODELS AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES1

The recent world-wide trend towards centralization of all environmental management functions into one regulatory agency has illustrated the necessity for resources management agencies to adopt a total systems viewpoint. Environmental systems are typically complex and multi-dimensional in nature. Mathematical models for the management of air, water and land resources have found wide acceptance among planners and decision-makers. Ecological models of life processes have not reached the same state of development or acceptance. A general review of ecological systems theory and examples of the types of ecological models that have been developed to date arc presented in this paper. With this material as a background and given the vast literature on engineering and economic models, a conceptual framework for an approach to environmental studies and the analysis of polluted environmental systems is presented.     

LINEAR PROGRAMMING APPLICATIONS IN WATER RESOURCES1

Applications of linear programming to water quality and water quantity problems are discussed, and a fairly comprehensive sample of recent literature in these areas is reviewed. Basic elements of linear programming are also discussed. Emphasis is placed on the elements of linear programming that make it a useful tool for analyzing water resource problems and the basic features of various water resource problems that render them amenable to meaningful analysis by linear programming.     

HYDRO-POWER SYSTEM SIMULATION TECHNIQUE1

ABSTRACT. The non-power requirements of a large hydro-power system of multiple-purpose projects often conflict with the best power peaking operation. In order to schedule an optimum multiple-purpose operation, advanced procedures that necessitate the use of computers are required. Special techniques are used in a computer program developed in the Reservoir Control Center, North Pacific Division of the Corps of Engineers that provide the ability to define operating constraints in order of priority. These techniques are easily adapted to practical reservoir regulation problems so that the program is useful in daily reservoir regulation scheduling.     

Integrated Aquaculture in Subsaharan Africa

An incremental, farmer participatory approach to the development of sustainable aquaculture in integrated farming systems has been tested in Malawi. Average fish production rose from 900 to approximately 1500 kg ha^-1 as farms achieved increasing levels of integration. Integrated farms produce almost six times the cash generated by the typical Malawian smallholder. The integrated pond-vegetable garden generates almost three times the annual net income from the staple maize crop and the homestead combined. The ecological footprint of integrated aquaculture is approximately 4 m² per kg of fish produced compared to 170 m² for more intensive systems. The incremental approach offers the possibility of fostering substantial improvement in rural livelihoods among African smallholding farmers.     

Delivering on the Promise of Agroforestry

Agroforestry – the traditional practice of growing trees on farms for the benefit of the farm family and for the environment – was brought from the realm of indigenous knowledge into the forefront of agricultural research less than two decades ago. It was promoted widely as a sustainability-enhancing practice that combines the best attributes of forestry and agriculture. Based on principles of natural resource management and process-oriented research, agroforestry is now recognized as an applied science, that is instrumental in assuring food security, reducing poverty and enhancing ecosystem resilience at the scale of thousands of smallholder farmers in the tropics.Trees on farms provide both products and services: they yield food, fuelwood, fodder, timber and medicines, which farm families can use at home or take to market to bring in much-needed cash; they replenish organic matter and nutrient levels in soils and they help control erosion and conserve water. The International Centre for Research in Agroforestry, and its partners, are working to integrate the functions of trees with policy and institutional improvements that aim at facilitating wide-scale adoption by farmers.Two examples described in this paper are replenishing soil fertility in sub-Saharan Africa using short-term improved tree and shrub fallows and the results of agroforestry research to support significant land tenure policy in southeast Asia.Although just one option in sustainable land-use, science-based agroforestry has the potential to produce economically, socially and environmentally sound results for the billions of people who depend on this ancient practice and modern science.     

A convective wind resource model for Solar Vortex power generation

ABSTRACT

Climate change has increased the need for clean, nonpolluting energy sources to decrease dependence on fossil fuels. Alternative energy sources, mainly solar and horizontal wind, have been the primary focus for producing clean energy. New technologies are being developed, such as the Solar Vortex (SoV), which was developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and relies on a vertical wind resource to generate power. The National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) has resource models representing solar and horizontal wind resources across the 48 United States. This research developed a vertical wind resource model that is comparable in resolution to NREL’s solar and horizontal wind resource models and uses the model for estimating power output for the SoV. This model complements NREL’s existing resource models and supports the deployment of an additional clean energy generation technology. The model was applied to Mesa, Arizona to find feasible sites for a small-scale vertical wind farm.     

DEVELOPMENT OF A BASIN GEOMORPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM USING A TIN-DEM DATA STRUCTURE1

ABSTRACT: To make a distributed rainfall-runoff model, it is very important to build a model of topographic surface of a basin which takes account of the direction of water flow. In this paper, a geographic information system in hydrologic modeling, the BGIS (Basin Geomorphic Information Systems) are presented for modeling a river basin using a TIN-DEM (Triangulated Irregular Network - Digital Elevation Model) data structure. The BGIS have two core systems, which are the TIN-DEM generating system and the topographic analysis system. In the TIN-DEM generating system, landscapes are modeled as a set of contiguous non-overlapping terangular facets whose vertices are made up of points on a regular grid DEM and on river segments. These triangular facets are subdivided, if needed, so that each of them has only one side through which water flows out. The TIN-DEM generating system is made up of four modules, (1) a module for generating triangles from a grid DEM, (2) a module for getting rid of pits, (3) a module for joining discontinuous valley segments to a channel network, (4) a module for subdividing triangular facets. In the topographic analysis system, using datasets processed with the TIN-DEM generating system, a watershed source area for any segments in a stream network are delineated automatically, and topographic attributes of slopes, aspects, flow path lengths and upslope contributing areas are computed.     

Evaluating Nonpoint Pollution Policy Using a Tightly Coupled Spatial Decision Support System

Policy makers often must rely on the cumulative impact of independent actions taken by local landowners to achieve environmental goals. The connection between policy, regulation, and local action, however, is often not well understood and, thus, the impact of proposed policies may be difficult to predict. In this study we evaluate the effectiveness of alternative policy scenarios for agricultural set aside programs (e.g., the conservation reserve program administered by the United States Department of Agriculture) in reducing nonpoint pollution. Two alternative policy scenarios are developed and analyzed; one based on the erodibility index (detachment), the other sediment yield (transport). An estimate of the cumulative impact of associated land use change on nonpoint pollution is made using the AGNPS distributed parameter watershed model. This work is completed within the Cypress Creek watershed in southern Illinois. An analysis of the resulting data suggests that the most efficacious regulatory strategy for achieving nonpoint water pollution goals depends, in part, on place-specific land use patterns. This conclusion provides a solid argument for place-based regulatory strategies.     

Traditional Land-Use Systems and Patterns of Forest Fragmentation in the Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico

The influence of slash-and-burn agriculture and tree extraction on the spatial and temporal pattern of forest fragmentation in two municipalities in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico was analyzed. The data series were derived from two subsets of satellite images taken in 1974 and 1996. The analysis was based on area, edge, shape, core area, and neighbor indices. During the 22 years, the dense forest decreased by 8.9%/yr in Huistán and by 8.6%/yr in Chanal, while open/disturbed forest, secondary vegetation, and developed area increased in both municipalities. The total number of fragments increased by 1.4%/yr and 2.3%/yr in Huistán and Chanal, respectively. Dense forest showed the highest increase in the number of fragments (6%/yr in Huistán and 12%/yr in Chanal), while edge length, core area, and number of dense forest core areas decreased. The larger fragments of dense forest present in 1974 were divided into smaller fragments in 1996; at the same time, they experienced a process of degradation toward open/disturbed forest and secondary vegetation. Two different fragmentation patterns could be distinguished based on agricultural or forestry activities. Forest fragmentation did not occur as a continuous process; the pattern and degree of fragmentation were functions of land tenure, environmental conditions, and productive activities. The prevalence of rather poor soil conditions, small-holdings, growing human population densities, increasing poverty, and the absence of alternative economic options will maintain a high rate of deforestation and forest fragmentation in the studied region.