Difference between revisions of "MfLOR"
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Revision as of 17:32, 7 October 2009
General System description
System name:
Montado ecosystem management decision support system
Acronym:
MfLOR
Brief overview
MfLOR is a tool that may support both cork and holm oak forest management planning and scenario analysis.
Contents
Scope of the system
- tool encourages decision maker to discover new problems or opportunities by exposing to new information or results
- tool helps decision makers in recognizing upcoming problems for which solutions have been developed previously
- tool allows decision maker to actively create new knowledge when faced with a new problem and to develop novel solutions
- tool allows decision maker to capture knowledge, making it available to decision makers who are seeking solutions from previously solved problems
System origin
The system was developed in 2007/2008 by the Centre of Forest Studies of Instituto Superior of Agonomia (CEF/ISA) of the Technical University of Lisbon in the framework of Project INTERREG IIIA “Desarrollo de un sistema de información para la gestión ambiental y económica del ecosistema dehesa/montado en Extremadura y Alentejo. 2ª Fase” and by Project PTDC/AGR-CFL/64146/2006 “Decision support tools for integrating fire and forest management planning” funded by the Portuguese Science Foundation.
MfLOR is used by the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture Regional Office of Alentejo (DRAPAL) to support cork and holm oak regional scenario analysis. The cork and holm oak covertypes extend over an area of aproximately 1 million ha.
Support for specific issues
Is the system designed to take into account specific uses? E.g. guidance on ways to characterize biodiversity, economic-biodiversity tradeoff analysis methods, risk assessment methods, landscape analysis methods, timber harvest effects, climate change effects, biological effects (pests, pathogens, invasives), fire,...
Support for specific thematic areas of a problem type
- Silvicultural
- Certification
- Conservation
- Restoration
- Transportation
- Development choices / land use zoning
- Policy/intervention alternatives
- Sustainability impact assessment (SIA)
Capability to support decision making phases
(NOTE I do not quite know what to do with this, as I do not understand it myself, although it seems related to system use)
(Click here to see a more detailed explanation)
- Intelligence (+ explicit description of the support given by the DSS)
- Design (+ explicit description of the support given by the DSS)
- Choice (+ explicit description of the support given by the DSS)
- Monitor (+ explicit description of the support given by the DSS)
Related systems
Describe (and/or link to) other systems related
Data and data models
Typical spatial extent of application
Define the scale of use for the application (user defined, regional, multi-owner forest single ownership forest, Multiple scale interaction)
Forest data input
Describe the basic forest input (forest level, stand level, or individual tree level), and appropriate meta-data, such as data provenance (Areal coverage, Sample of plots, stands, Contiguous forest cover). GIS information is to be considered here, namely include cover tyes and type of information (raster or vectorial, necessity of topological information) If necessary describe surrogate sources of information
If necessary describe other types of required data (economic, social)
Type of information input from user (via GUI)
Describe what is the information that the user directly inputs in the system if any): expert knowledge, opinion, goals and production objectives, preferences, stand/site information....
Models
Forest models
Growth, Yield, Carbon, Wood quality, biodiversity and habitat suitability, environmental and external effects (fire, storms, pests, diseases, climate change, etc)
Social models
historical and cultural values of sites, values due to peace and quiet, esthetic values, values due to recreational activities, ethical values): E. g. Recreation, Health, Game
Decision Support
Definition of management interventions
Define what is available for the manager to intervene in the forest: time of harvest, plantations, thinnings, reconversions... Existence of prescription writer, simple enumeration of all possibilities, scenario simulation , etc.
Typical temporal scale of application
Define the temporal scale of the application: E.g., operational and immediate level, Tactical planning (short term) and strategic level.
Types of decisions supported
- Management level
- strategic decisions
- administrative decisions
- operating control decisions
- Management function
- planning decisions
- organizing decisions
- command decisions
- control decisions
- coordination decisions
- decision making situation
- unilateral
- collegial
- Bargaining / participative decision making
Decision-making processes and models
- Logic modeling
- Operations research modeling
- Direct approaches
- Heuristic manipulation of simulation models
- Business modeling
- Simulation (with and without stochasticity)
- Multiple criteria/ranking
- Other
Output
Types of outputs
Types of outputs produced (tables, maps, 3-D visualizations, pre-programmed summaries, etc)
Spatial analysis capabilities
- integrated capabilities
- facilitates links to GIS (wizards, etc.)
- provides standard data import/export formats
- allows spatial analysis (e.g. topology overlays (e.g. multi layering of different maps, selection of objects based on selection criteria, aggregation by attributes (e.g. areas of similar characteristics), Linking by logical means, Statistics by area, analysis with digital terrain model)
Abilities to address interdisciplinary, multi-scaled, and political issues
Evaluate interactions between different basic information types (biophysical, economic, social). Produce coordinated results for decision makers operating at different spatial scales facilitate social negotiation and learning
System
System requirements
- Operating Systems: (Windows, Macintosh, Linux/UNIX, Web-based, Others)
- Other software needed (GIS, MIP packages, etc...)
- Development status
Architecture and major DSS components
Describe the basic architecture of the system in software and hardware. Desktop client-server, web based, as well as the integration with available systems. Basic data flow, focusing on retrieval of required input and propagation and implementations of decisions. Mention its modular and scalability capabilities.
Usage
Government use (Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture Regional Office of Alentejo (DRAPAL))
Computational limitations
Describe the system limitations: e.g. number of management units, number of vehicles, time horizon
User interface
Describe the quality of user interface and the Prerequisite knowledge for using the system
Documentation and support
The graphical user interface ptovide access to the MfLOR users' manual: Borges, P., S. Marques., M. Marto e J. G. Borges. 2008. O Sistema de Apoio à Decisão em Análise de Cenários em Montados de Sobro e Azinho no Alentejo, MfLOR, Documento Técnico, 01/08, FORCHANGE/LEAF/CEF/ISA, Lisboa, Portugal
Installation
- Prerequisite knowledge: Level of effort to become functional
- Cost: (purchase price, development costs, demonstrated return on investment, cost of use, training costs, licence and maintenance costs)
- Demo: allows the download/utilization of a trial version. If yes, where is it available and what are the trial conditions.
References
Cited references
External resources
Borges, P., S. Marques, J. G. Borges e M. Tomé. 2008. Scenario analysis applied to cork and holm oak forest ecosystems in Southern Portugal, In: Palahi, M., Birot, Y., Bravo, F. and Gorris, E., (Eds) Modelling, valuing and managing Mediterranean Forest ecosystem for non-timber goods and services, EFI Proceedings 57: 49-56.
