Case Studies

This page catalogs completed and current EMDS projects.

If you using EMDS and would like to contribute as a case study, please see About this page.

EMDS Globe Trek

To take the EMDS globe trek:

  1. Download and install Google Earth if you don't have it already.
  2. Download the EMDS globe trek tour, "EMDS globe trek.kmz" (you can save it anywhere on your hard-drive, but the Google Earth folder is a good choice).
  3. Start Google Earth.
  4. Click File-Open, and select the trek file.
  5. The file loads into the Temporary places folder by default, but you can click and drag it to the My places folder if you'd like to keep it.
  6. To start the tour, highlight the EMDS globe trek item, then click the play button on the bottom of the Places pane.

Tips for viewing

  • The EMDS globe trek is displayed as a folder, and contains about 22 sites at the moment.
  • Double click on any site in the folder to fly directly to that site.
  • Each EMDS site is marked by a labeled pin.
  • The pin label indicates the relevant topic (e.g., watershed restoration).
  • Click on the pin to open a call-out balloon with additional information.
  • Each call-out includes hyperlinks to key publications (usually PDFs) or on-line documents associated with the location.
  • You can take a complete tour of all sites in the EMDS globe trek folder by clicking on the play button as described under step 6, above. Clicking on a pin halts the tour at the current geographic location. Unfortunately, clicking on a pin to open the call-out during the tour also interrupts the tour. When you click on the play button, the tour restarts from the beginning. My suggestion is to first let the tour run all the way through, then go back and visit specific sites.

Knowledge bases currently available

Multi-scale, integrated assessment

Purpose: Evaluate stream reach and watershed conditions, and prioritize restoration and protection activities at both scale.

Primary KB topics:

  1. stream reach knowledge base
  2. watershed condition knowledge base

Geographic scope: Pacific Northwest, and possibly broader.

Scale of analysis: 6th code watersheds (ca. 10-20,000 ha) and stream reaches.

Additional comments: Reach-level conditions are evaluated in one knowledge base. Reach information is summarized by watershed, and passed to a second knowledge base that evaluates watershed condition.  Companion decision models at each scale (reach and watershed) set priorities for restoration and protection based on results of knowledge base assessments as well as reinterpretations of data with respect to their implications for efficacy and feasibility of restoration. 

Presentation: PowerPoint show.

Contacts: Keith Reynolds, Corvallis Forestry Sciences Lab, Pacific Northwest Research Station.

Site suitability for ecological field stations

Purpose: Evaluate suitability of sites for their qualities as a research reserve based on the guidelines of the University of California Natural Reserve System (NRS).

Primary KB topics: Site is highly suitable for an NRS reserve. Suitability is defined by subnetworks of scientific, academic, and administrative suitability.

Geographic scope: generic, and hierarchical from regional to local

Scale of analysis: hierarchical from watersheds to land tenure parcels

Documentation: Project Report (Sept 29, 2000)

Additional comments: The assessment process is implemented in three stages, with increasing spatial and thematic detail in each successive stage as the assessment focuses in on a smaller subset of the original region. The knowledge base could be adapted to other networks of research reserves such as the LTER system, biosphere reserves, Forest Service research natural areas, etc.

Contacts:

  1. Frank Davis, University of California, Santa Barbara
  2. David Stoms, University of California, Santa Barbara

Forest ecosystem sustainability

Purpose: Evaluate forest ecosystem sustainability based on the criteria and indicators of the Montreal Process

Primary KB topics: trend in sustainability between consecutive assessments, evaluation of current ecosystem states in relation to long-term objectives. Major subtopics under each of the above are biophysical condition, socioeconomic condition, and framework condition (legal, institutional, etc.).

Geographic scope: Global

Scale of analysis: National, regional

Documentation: NetWeaver HTML

Presentation: PowerPoint: show

Contacts:

  1. Keith Reynolds, Corvallis Forestry Sciences Lab, Pacific Northwest Research Station.

Ecological site classification

Purpose: Evaluate suitability of alternative tree species for planting on sites based on climatic and edaphic characteristics of those sites.

Primary KB topics: Species site suitability.

Geographic scope: Britain.

Scale of analysis: biophysical landscape units.

Documentation: GeoComputation Conference paper (Sept 98)

Contacts:

  1. Duncan Ray, Woodland Ecology Branch, British Forestry Commission.
  2. Keith Reynolds, Corvallis Forestry Sciences Lab, Pacific Northwest Research Station.

Representativeness assessment

Purpose: Design of biodiversity reserve systems within a region that provides sufficient representation of relevant biophysical environments to assure maintenance of biodiversity.

Primary KB topics: selection of landscape elements that are good candidates for inclusion in a reserve system.

Geographic scope: generic, approximately 4 to 20 million ha.

Scale of analysis: biophysical landscape units.

Documentation: GIS/EM4 paper

Additional comments: The knowledge base is one component in an integrated solution. Work is in progress to synthesize biophysical land unit information at the level of lager land units for use in an optimization procedure. We also plan to add an additional custom interface to EMDS that will enable customization of the optimal solution to produce more politically feasible solutions.

Contacts:

  1. Keith Reynolds, Corvallis Forestry Sciences Lab, Pacific Northwest Research Station.
  2. Patrick Bourgeron, INSTAAR, University of Colorado, Boulder.
  3. Frank Davis, University of California, Santa Barbara

Watershed assessment

Purpose: very broad assessment of numerous watershed states and processes.

Primary KB topics:

  1. watershed processes
  2. watershed patterns
  3. human influences
  4. aquatic species

Geographic scope: general

Scale of analysis: 6th code watershed (ca. 10-20,000 ha)

Additional comments: There are three broad categories of knowledge base topics:

  1. Networks evaluated by comparison to a reference watershed.
  2. Networks evaluated by comparison to a desired management standard.
  3. Networks evaluated by comparison to regulatory requirements.

Download: wa_epa.exe (self-extracting zip archive, 49 KB)

Documentation: CompAg paper (PDF)

Contacts:

  1. Keith Reynolds, Corvallis Forestry Sciences Lab, Pacific Northwest Research Station.
  2. Mark Jensen, Forest Service Region 1
  3. James Andreasen, Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development
  4. Iris Goodman, Environmental Protection Agency

Knowledge bases in development

Predicting Moose Browse Abundance

Purpose: Evaluate the desirability of given patches of habitat a moose browse within the Portage, Placer, and Twentymile Valleys of south-central Alaska.

Primary KB topics: 

  1. vegetation type 
  2. vegetation polygon size 
  3. vegetation polygon shape 
  4. snow depth

Geographic scope: .Valley bottoms in south-central Alaska

Scale of analysis: vegetation polygons on the landscape

Documentation: Progress Report

Presentation: Fuzzy moose

Contact: Robert L. DeVelice, Chugach National Forest, Anchorage, Alaska

Site evaluation to improve regeneration success

Purpose: Optimize success of natural regeneration and regeneration methods.

Primary KB topics: ?

Geographic scope: Austria.

Scale of analysis: Site.

Contact: Harald Vacik, Universit Cr Bodenkultur Wien, Institute of Silviculture, Vienna, Austria. Website. 

PowerPoint Slideshows

Online slide shows

The following slide shows require Microsoft PowerPoint. If you do not have PowerPoint, you may download the PowerPoint Viewer for Windows or Mac.

 

  • Using EMDS in watershed assessment for salmon habitat suitability (view).

  • Evaluating forest ecosystem sustainability (view).

  • Evaluating landscape integrity (view).

  • Evaluating forest fire danger (view).

About this page

If you are a current EMDS user and have a knowledge base already built that you are particularly proud of and would like to share with the world, you can email your NetWeaver NW file as an attachment to me.

If you do want to submit a knowledge for inclusion in the catalog, please be sure that it is reasonably well documented:

  1. At least some commentary on network objects (in the explanation field of the document window) will help others grasp the basic architecture of your knowledge base.
  2. It is particularly important that data links are well documented so that others clearly understand the units of measure that a data link expects.