Model Integration: Application in Ecology and for Management - Modelling Complex Ecological Dynamics - page 315

As integrated approaches are an integral component of e.g. European politics and
legal frameworks, the demand for IEM increased significantly in the last years. This is
highlighted by diverse DSS for river basin management plans resulting from the legal
requirements of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Due to historic development
as well as good funding and early need of management, hydrodynamic models acted as
a cutting edge of model integration. As many ecological models take hydrology into
account, hydrodynamic models are an integral part of environmental modelling and
many approaches in IEM are derived from hydrological applications. GIS-based models
dealing with emissions in catchments are good and common examples for IEMs.
MONERIS
MONERIS (Modelling Nutrient Emissions in River Systems) is an example of a
model calculating the water quality in catchment areas. The model addresses three
goals:
l Identifying the sources and pathways of nutrient emissions at the smallest
calculation units level.
l Analysing the transport and the retention of nutrients in river systems.
l Providing support for examining management scenarios of different adaptation
measures.
MONERIS evaluates emissions of nutrients from point sources as well as from
diffuse sources into surface waters. As Fig. 22.5 illustrates, it integrates many sub-
systems: Beginning with the atmospheric deposition, paths of nutrients via urban
areas, overland run-off as well as effects of erosion, drainage and groundwater are
represented.
As point data (e.g. waste water treatment plants), areal information (e.g. soil data),
and administrative information (like statistical data for districts), are integrated, the
application of geographic information systems (GIS) is crucial. The GIS integrates
the results, although the MONERIS system uses only classical database management
to join the data and simple spreadsheet processing for calculations.
For scenarios the model evaluates the efficiency of management measures,
assigning the measures applied on analytical units to catchment level. The
multiple measures implemented by the user can be based on analytical units or
cover larger areas, predicting the effect of measures on loads in the whole
catchment. MONERIS has been applied to numerous river systems: the Axios,
Danube, Daugava, Elbe, Odra, Po, Rhine, Vistula, all of Germany and river
catchments in Canada, Brazil and China (Behrend et al. 2005; Behrendt et al.
2000; Behrendt et al. 1999; Schreiber et al. 2005; von Sperling et al. 2007: Xu
2004). MONERIS is an example for a loose coupling approach, using GIS
preferentially to aggregate both, input data from measurements and information
calculated by the (sub)models.