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A Method for Catchment Scale Mapping of Groundwater-Dependent Ecosystems to Support Natural Resource Management (Queensland, Australia).
- Source :
- Environmental Management; Feb2016, Vol. 57 Issue 2, p432-449, 18p, 3 Diagrams, 3 Charts, 2 Maps
- Publication Year :
- 2016
-
Abstract
- Immediate and foreseeable threats to groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) are widely acknowledged, many linked to altered groundwater regimes including changes in groundwater flow, flux, pressure, level and/or quality (Eamus et al. in Aust J Bot 54:97-114, ). Natural resource managers and other decision-makers often lack sufficient information at an appropriate scale to understand the groundwater dependency of ecosystems and ensure that GDEs are adequately considered in decision-making processes. This paper describes a new catchment scale mapping method for GDEs based on the integration of local expert knowledge with detailed spatial datasets to delineate GDEs at a scale compatible with management and planning activities. This overcomes one of the key criticisms often levelled at broader scale mapping methods-that information from local and regional experts, with significant understanding of landscape processes and ecosystems, is not incorporated into the datasets used by decision-makers. Expert knowledge is conveyed in the form of pictorial conceptual models representing the components, processes and interrelationships of groundwater within a catchment and the ecosystems dependent on it. Each mapped GDE is linked to a pictorial conceptual model and a mapping rule-set to provide decision-makers with valuable information about where, how and why GDEs exist in a landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0364152X
- Volume :
- 57
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Environmental Management
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 112262267
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-015-0612-z