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| Streams
in developed regions are under significant stress due to
nutrient enrichment.
Humans affect streams by:
- Changing land
uses in the catchment or modifying the landscape in ways
that increase the transport of nutrients to surface waters.
- Directly
dumping urban or industrial sewage (point sources) into the
stream.
- Modifying the
streams themselves in ways that reduce their ability to
respond to increased nutrient loads.
Whereas these processes operate
at diverse scales -from within-stream processes to watershed
processes-, stream managers are often constrained to act at the
reach scale.
The
goal of STREAMES is to
develop a tool to help streams managers in two ways:
- Firstly, it
will help them to evaluate the sources and magnitudes of
nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) loads affecting the
stream reach of interest.
- Secondly, it
will help them decide on the best strategy for stream
amelioration at that particular reach, with special emphasis
on actions directed towards increasing nutrient retention
within the stream (i.e., enhancing the stream self-purifying
capacity).
The tool
is an Expert System, a computer application that aids in the
process of decision making by encompassing heuristic (expert)
and empirical information. To build this Expert System, it is
necessary to create a knowledge base and a set of rules for
interpreting that knowledge.
These will be derived from expert
knowledge from participating water management agencies,
from the existing scientific literature, and from original
research on a set of streams selected to encompass the
diversity of stream management situations encountered in the
Mediterranean region, from Portugal to Israel, plus some central
European sites that serve as contrast.
The original research will focus
on three study scales:
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The following specific
objectives were proposed to build
the empirical knowledge base and to develop the Expert System:
| Workpackage
1 |
CATCHMENT
SCALE |
To
examine relationships between land-use practices in the catchment and stream
nutrient loads and to evaluate the relative importance of point vs non-point
sources on the overall nutrient loading.
(Leader: J. Riera, UB;
Co-Leader: H. Behrendt, IGB-FVG). |
| Workpackage
2 |
REACH
SCALE |
To
examine the effect of high nutrient loads on in-stream nutrient transport,
transformation and retention and to evaluate the role of geomorphologic and
hydrologic features on nutrient retention control.
(Leader: E. Martí, CSIC;
Co-Leader: P. Vervier, CNRS). |
| Workpackage
3 |
SUB-REACH
SCALE |
To
examine the role of stream biological processes on the control of nutrient
retention.
(Leader: T. Battin,
U.Vienna; Co-Leader: A. Solimini, TorVergata). |
| Workpackage
4 |
EXPERT
SYSTEM |
To
develop the Expert System and to validate its consistency.
(Leader: J. Comas, UdG;
Co-Leader: G. Markakis, U.Crete). |
| Workpackage
5 |
DISSEMINATION |
To
promote dissemination of the results and of its final product (i.e., the
Expert System).
(Leader: L. Godé, ACA;
Co-Leaders: D. Signoretti, Provincia di Roma and D. Tesseyre, AEAG). |
The
innovative character of the ES lies
in its ability to estimate and evaluate uncertainties in the prediction of
the stream water quality in support of management decisions. Another
important issue is the integration of a Geographic Information System (GIS)
linked to a nutrient export model (MONERIS) into the development of the ES,
to address spatial information at the appropriate stream management scale.
The project is innovative in
both its scientific goals and its application. Nutrient export has been
widely described and modeled for rivers in cold and wet temperate climates,
but less so for Mediterranean streams. Likewise, geomorphic and
hydrologic controls on nutrient retention are only beginning to be
understood in relatively pristine streams, and are poorly understood in polluted
streams, even though these are the most in need of management.
This project will deliver an
extensive knowledge base for the management of stream ecosystems
placed in small-middle size catchments (100 - 1000 Km2). |
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