Conceptual Ecosystem Modeling Workshop: April 21 - 23, 2009

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this workshop is to develop an initial conceptual model of the coupled human-environment ecosystem that encompasses the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve (Mission-Aransas NERR). The workshop participants will follow a systematic process to identify the major system societal drivers, associated human activities, natural and anthropogenic stressors, Mission-Aransas NERR habitats, valued ecosystem components (VECs) for each habitat, and ecological effects from each environmental stressor on each VEC (see figure below). The workshop will also identify the feedbacks and service flows from the VECs to societal drivers and human activities. Following the workshop, the relationships among these elements will be captured in a graphical format. The resulting conceptual model can be used as a guide for Mission-Aransas NERR and its ECSC partner, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMUCC), to identify research and monitoring needs for the coupled human environment system, as well as to provide a useful tool for communications among scientists, between scientists and managers, and between the Mission-Aransas NERR and its stakeholders.

Participants will include scientists with experience in Mission-Aransas NERR ecosystems, outside scientists with expertise in the habitat types of the NERR, scientists with expertise in conceptual model development and ecological risk assessments, as well as managers and representatives of stakeholder interests. The workshop will meet in both plenary and workgroup sessions to follow specific steps to develop the conceptual model and to allow focused interactions both within and across groups. A field trip into the Mission-Aransas NERR site will give participants a first-hand perspective on the ecosystem.
 

AGENDA


JOURNAL ARTICLES OF CEMS

An interdisciplinary conceptual metamodel for the St. Jones River Watershed, Delaware: development, results, and implications.  Journal of Environmental Monitoring & Restoration 2: 38-50, 2006    to dowload file click here

Ecological conceptual models: a framework and case study on ecosystem management for South Florida sustainability.  The Science of the Total Environmental 274 (2001) 231-253   to download file click here


DRAFT MATRICES

Ecological Matrix
Social Matrix