1. General Model Information

Name: Western Bays Landscape Spatial Simulation

Acronym: WBLSS

Main medium: aquatic+terrstrial
Main subject: Habitat succession, other, hydrology, population dynamics
Organization level: Landscape, Ecosystem
Type of model: partial differential equations (finite differences,2D)
Main application: research, decision support/expert system, education
Keywords: Atchafalaya River (Louisiana, USA), deltaic habitats growth and colonization, response to multiple impacts

Contact:

Enrique Reyes
Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, University of New Orleans, New Orleans LA 70148 USA
Phone: 504 280 6790
Fax: 504 280 7396
email: ereyes@uno.edu

Author(s):

Jay F. Martin, G. Paul Kemp, Enrique Reyes, Hassan Mashriqui, and John W. Day.

Abstract:

The Western Bays Landscape Spatial Simulation (WBLSS) is a spatially explicit landscape model that integrates physical and biological processes to examine how variations of natural material inputs combined with different management approaches can affect habitat distribution in the Atchafalaya and Wax Lake deltas in Louisiana, USA. Distinguishing characteristics for this landscape model is a land building algorithm to account of long-term changes in active deltas. The WBLSS incorporates hydrological, geological, and meteorological forces across a spatial grid to simulate ecosystem dynamics for 70 year periods over 9,000 km² of swamps, marshes and open water. The models were used to predict the survival of marshes with accelerated sea level rise and altered riverine inputs. Management scenarios that isolated deltaic wetlands from the river resulted in rapid deterioration of the delta. With increased riverine input these same wetlands were sustained even with accelerated rates! of sea level rise. This spatial model can predict effects of complex interactions, over lengthy time periods and across entire landscapes. The results demonstrate that by sustaining and restoring marsh coverage, the maintenance and restoration of natural riverine inputs is a sustainable approach to address present and future deterioration of deltaic ecosystems. Yearly maps for the calibration and scenario runs can be seen as color animations on our web site: www.lsu.edu/aeg.

II. Technical Information

II.1 Executables:

Operating System(s): UNIX/LINUX

II.2 Source-code:

Programming Language(s): FORTRAN

II.3 Manuals:

II.4 Data:

daily precipitation, daily wind direction and velocity, hourly tides, daily river discharges

III. Mathematical Information

III.1 Mathematics

III.2 Quantities

III.2.1 Input

III.2.2 Output

IV. References

Reyes E., M.L. White, J.F. Martin, G.P. Kemp, J.W. Day, V. Aravamuthan. 2000. Landscape Modeling of Coastal Habitat Change in the Mississippi Delta. Ecology. 81(8): 2331-2349.

Martin, J.F., M.L. White, E. Reyes, G.P. Kemp, J.W. Day, H. Mashriqui. 2000. Evaluation of Coastal Management Plans with a Spatial Model: Mississippi Delta, Louisiana, USA. Environmental Management. 26(2): 117-129.

Martin, J.F., E. Reyes, G.P. Kemp, J.W. Day, H. Mashriqui. 2002. Landscape Modeling of the Mississippi Delta. BioScience. 52(4): 357-365.

V. Further information in the World-Wide-Web

VI. Additional remarks

Last review of this document by: : Wed Oct 16 20:28:30 2002
Status of the document: Contributed by Enrique Reyes
last modified by Joachim Benz Thu Oct 24 17:43:55 CEST 2002