scholarly journals Evaluating the sensitivity of the LUCI model to GIS datasets to enable robust farm management decisions in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alicia I. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Nutrient Loading ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Digital Elevation ◽  
Management Decision Making ◽  
Farm Scale ◽  
Elevation Model

<p>Degradation of water quality is a major issue in New Zealand, to which the loss of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment from agriculture into waterways contributes significantly. To predict and manage diffuse pollution from intensive agriculture it is vital that models are able to spatially map the sources, flows and sinks of nutrients in the landscape and spatially target mitigations. This study investigates the application of one such model, the Land Utilisation Capability Indicator (LUCI). Used in conjunction with OVERSEER, LUCI is a powerful tool to support farm scale land management decision-making.  LUCI includes soil, topography and landcover datasets in its analysis. This thesis examines how the quality and resolution of each dataset affects LUCI’s output. Six different case studies are examined, across a range of New Zealand farming systems. This is the most comprehensive study, to date, of LUCI’s sensitivity to input datasets.  The results suggest that LUCI nutrient loading estimates are primarily sensitive to soil order, and therefore to changes in order classifications. Utilising different soil datasets in the LUCI model resulted in varying nutrient load predictions. This sensitivity is primarily attributed to the differing hydraulic and phosphorus retention capabilities of the respective soil orders. To test the sensitivity of LUCI to digital elevation model (DEM) resolution, multiple DEMs with varying spatial and vertical resolution were tested. These results strongly indicate that particularly fine resolution DEMs are required to accurately model flat landscapes.  It was recognised that LUCI was not using all of the relevant data available in Landcare Research’s S-Map database. LUCI was modified to use more of this information, and alternative methods of incorporating sibling level data in both LUCI and OVERSEER were investigated. Finally, avenues for future development are suggested. Overall, this thesis highlights the potential LUCI has to play a key role in farm scale environmental management.</p>

scholarly journals Evaluating the sensitivity of the LUCI model to GIS datasets to enable robust farm management decisions in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alicia I. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Nutrient Loading ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Digital Elevation ◽  
Management Decision Making ◽  
Farm Scale ◽  
Elevation Model

<p>Degradation of water quality is a major issue in New Zealand, to which the loss of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment from agriculture into waterways contributes significantly. To predict and manage diffuse pollution from intensive agriculture it is vital that models are able to spatially map the sources, flows and sinks of nutrients in the landscape and spatially target mitigations. This study investigates the application of one such model, the Land Utilisation Capability Indicator (LUCI). Used in conjunction with OVERSEER, LUCI is a powerful tool to support farm scale land management decision-making.  LUCI includes soil, topography and landcover datasets in its analysis. This thesis examines how the quality and resolution of each dataset affects LUCI’s output. Six different case studies are examined, across a range of New Zealand farming systems. This is the most comprehensive study, to date, of LUCI’s sensitivity to input datasets.  The results suggest that LUCI nutrient loading estimates are primarily sensitive to soil order, and therefore to changes in order classifications. Utilising different soil datasets in the LUCI model resulted in varying nutrient load predictions. This sensitivity is primarily attributed to the differing hydraulic and phosphorus retention capabilities of the respective soil orders. To test the sensitivity of LUCI to digital elevation model (DEM) resolution, multiple DEMs with varying spatial and vertical resolution were tested. These results strongly indicate that particularly fine resolution DEMs are required to accurately model flat landscapes.  It was recognised that LUCI was not using all of the relevant data available in Landcare Research’s S-Map database. LUCI was modified to use more of this information, and alternative methods of incorporating sibling level data in both LUCI and OVERSEER were investigated. Finally, avenues for future development are suggested. Overall, this thesis highlights the potential LUCI has to play a key role in farm scale environmental management.</p>

A systematic approach to evaluating and ranking the relative animal welfare impacts of wildlife control methods: poisons used for lethal control of brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) in New Zealand

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (7) ◽  
pp. 553 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. J. Beausoleil ◽  
P. Fisher ◽  
K. E. Littin ◽  
B. Warburton ◽  
D. J. Mellor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Control Methods ◽  
Trichosurus Vulpecula ◽  
Welfare Impacts ◽  
Wildlife Control ◽  
Management Decision Making

Context Control of unwanted wildlife (‘pest’ animals) is undertaken for conservation and economic reasons, and when such animals are considered a nuisance. Such control should be undertaken using approaches that minimise, as far as possible, detrimental impacts on the welfare of the animals. Using a scientific framework based on the Five Domains model, the relative welfare impacts of pest control methods can be compared across methods and pest species. Aims We demonstrate the application of a modified version of this framework to evaluate the relative impacts of seven Vertebrate Toxic Agents (VTAs) used to control brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) in New Zealand. The evaluation is used to produce a ranking of the seven VTAs based on their relative impacts on possum welfare. Methods Scientific literature describing mode of toxic action, specific effects in possums or other animals and reports from human poisonings was collated as reference material for a panel of six experts. The panel produced a median welfare impact score (‘none’ to ‘extreme’) for each of the Five Domains. The ‘Overall Grade’ (1 to 8) reflected the intensity and duration of all impacts of a VTA on possums. Key results All VTAs evaluated have at least moderate impacts on possum welfare, lasting for at least minutes. Cyanide was assessed as having the lowest welfare impacts (median grade 4), and cholecalciferol and the anticoagulants the highest impacts (7.5 to 8). Zinc phosphide was assigned an intermediate grade (6) with high confidence. While the overall impacts of sodium fluoroacetate (1080) and phosphorus were also assessed as intermediate (6), the panel’s confidence in these scores was low. Conclusions From an animal welfare perspective, anticoagulant poisons and cholecalciferol should be the least preferred options for controlling possums in New Zealand, as VTAs with less severe welfare impacts are available. Implications The results of such assessments allow animal welfare impacts to be integrated with other factors in wildlife management decision-making and policy development, and are thus useful for managers, researchers, regulators and operators. Evaluation of welfare impacts aligns with the goals and mandates of ethical wildlife control and may also be valuable in wider wildlife research and management activities.

A soil-landscape model for close-jointed mudstone, Gisborne-East Cape, North-Island, New Zealand

Soil Research ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 381 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Mcleod ◽  
WC Rijkse ◽  
JR Dymond
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Digital Elevation Model ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Computer Algorithms ◽  
Landscape Model ◽  
Soil Class ◽  
Soil Group ◽  
Digital Elevation ◽  
Soil Landscape ◽  
Elevation Model

A soil-landscape model, comprising 12 land components at a scale of 1 : 5000, has been developed in Neogene close-jointed mudstone in the Gisborne-East Cape region of the North Island, New Zealand. In a validation, soil order was predicted correctly in 81% of observations, soil group in 80%, soil subgroup in 63% and soilform in 60% of observations. A simplified model based on 11 land components for use at a scale of 1 : 50 000 has also been validated. Here soil order was predicted correctly in 71% of observations, soil group in 73% and soil subgroup in 49% of observations. For application with a digital elevation model (1 : 50 000), the number of land components was amalgamated to five. Here the soil order and soil group were predicted correctly in 63% of observations and soil subgroup in 40% of observations during validation. In all trials, the percentage of correct observations increased if a second choice or subdominant soil class was allowed. It took 2 person-weeks to produce a soil map from the 1 :50 000 form of the model over 400 km2 of steep and hilly country by photo interpretation of stereo aerial photographs, compared with 1 day of applying computer algorithms on the digital elevation model (DEM). The soil-landscape model succinctly relates soil class to land component and it enables improved targeting of farm and planning inputs by empowering existing research into soil fertilizer requirements and soil physical properties.

scholarly journals Palaeotopography concerning sea level changes to rethink past human activities in central Dalmatian islands area, Adriatic Sea

2018 ◽  
pp. 143-156
Author(s):  
Tomaž Podobnikar
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Landscape Archaeology ◽  
Environmental Conservation ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Gis Tools ◽  
Data Quality Assessment ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Digital Elevation ◽  
Elevation Model

Environmental conditions and access to natural resources are important factors for human behaviour and choices about where to make settlements. This important information must be understood and abstracted into appropriate spatial datasets, so as to be modelled in geographic information systems (GIS). The main objective is to design and realize a seamless integrated digital elevation model (DEM) from several data sources, including bathymetry. The important focus of this paper is to collect and interpret the sea level data for the Central Dalmatian islands over the past 15,000 years, describing the entire case study’s implementation in terms of hydrology, landscape archaeology, geodesy, data quality assessment, and spatial analysis. The results demonstrate that the proposed model has the potential to rethink the archaeological theories of settlement patterns in the studied area. The limitation of the proposed study is a lower quality of bathymetric datasets, and the determination of the historical sea level due to a number of uncertain factors. The work has profound implications in terms of the developed GIS tools that make it possible to generate reliable datasets and simulate various scenarios, as well as for a non-destructive prediction of the past archaeological landscapes. The solution may help increase awareness about cultural heritage, environmental conservation, and climate change.

An Integrated Approach for Maximising Local and Scientific Knowledge for Land Management Decision-Making in the New Zealand High Country.

1996 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
OJH Bosch ◽  
WJ Allen ◽  
JM Williams ◽  
AH Ensor
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Monitoring Tools ◽  
Management Decision Making

This paper describes the development of a process to facilitate the identification and introduction of sustainable land management practices in the high country of New Zealand. The process was designed to gather and structure community knowledge (both local and scientific) into a single, accessible decision support system (DSS). The development and provision of appropriate, and user-friendly monitoring tools is supported. An outline is given of how this integrated system can be used to integrate monitoring with adaptive management. Special reference is made to how this process is used as a large-scale ecological 'experiment', to enhance continually the knowledge base available for land use decision-making in the South Island high country of New Zealand.

scholarly journals An 11-year record of mass balance of Brewster Glacier, New Zealand, determined using a geostatistical approach

2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (238) ◽  
pp. 199-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
NICOLAS J. CULLEN ◽  
BRIAN ANDERSON ◽  
PASCAL SIRGUEY ◽  
DOROTHEA STUMM ◽  
ANDREW MACKINTOSH ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Mass Balance ◽  
Snow Depth ◽  
Spatial Density ◽  
Glacier Mass Balance ◽  
Geostatistical Approach ◽  
Digital Elevation ◽  
Elevation Model ◽  
Kriging Approach ◽  
Better Than

ABSTRACTRecognising the scarcity of glacier mass-balance data in the Southern Hemisphere, a mass-balance measurement programme was started at Brewster Glacier in the Southern Alps of New Zealand in 2004. Evolution of the measurement regime over the 11 years of data recorded means there are differences in the spatial density of data obtained. To ensure the temporal integrity of the dataset a new geostatistical approach is developed to calculate mass balance. Spatial co-variance between elevation and snow depth allows a digital elevation model to be used in a co-kriging approach to develop a snow depth index (SDI). By capturing the observed spatial variability in snow depth, the SDI is a more reliable predictor than elevation and is used to adjust each year of measurements consistently despite variability in sampling spatial density. The SDI also resolves the spatial structure of summer balance better than elevation. Co-kriging is used again to spatially interpolate a derived mean summer balance index using SDI as a co-variate, which yields a spatial predictor for summer balance. The average glacier-wide surface winter, summer and annual balances over the period 2005–15 are 2484, −2586 and −102 mm w.e., respectively, with changes in summer balance explaining most of the variability in annual balance.

scholarly journals Scale Optimization in Topographic and Hydrographic Feature Mapping Using Fractal Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 631
Author(s):  
Christos Karydas ◽  
Bin Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Earth Science ◽  
River Basins ◽  
New Method ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Topological Transformation ◽  
Input Dataset ◽  
Management Decision Making ◽  
Heavy Tailed ◽  
Hydrographic Features ◽  
Elevation Model

A new method for selecting optimal scales when mapping topographic or hydrographic features is introduced. The method employs rank-size partition of heavy-tailed distributions to detect nodes of rescaling invariance in the underlying hierarchy of the dataset. These nodes, known as head/tail breaks, can be used to indicate optimal scales. Then, the Fractal Net Evolution Assessment (FNEA) segmentation algorithm is applied with the topographic or hydrographic surfaces to produce optimally scaled objects. A topological transformation allows linking the two processes (partition and segmentation), while fractal dimension of the rescaling process is employed as an optimality metric. The new method is experimented with the two biggest river basins in Greece, namely Pinios and Acheloos river basins, using a digital elevation model as the only input dataset. The method proved successful in identifying a set of optimal scales for mapping elevation, slope, and flow accumulation. Deviation from the ideal conditions for implementing head/tail breaks are discussed. Implementation of the method requires an object-based analysis program and few common geospatial functions embedded in most GIS programs. The new method will assist in revealing underlying environmental processes in a variety of earth science fields and, thus, assist in land management decision-making and mapping generalization.

Centralization and Effectiveness of Reward Management in Multinational Enterprises

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Tekieli ◽  
Marion Festing ◽  
Xavier Baeten
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Identity Theory ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Role Identity ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Role Identities ◽  
Management Decision Making ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Subsidiary Managers ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract. Based on responses from 158 reward managers located at the headquarters or subsidiaries of multinational enterprises, the present study examines the relationship between the centralization of reward management decision making and its perceived effectiveness in multinational enterprises. Our results show that headquarters managers perceive a centralized approach as being more effective, while for subsidiary managers this relationship is moderated by the manager’s role identity. Referring to social identity theory, the present study enriches the standardization versus localization debate through a new perspective focusing on psychological processes, thereby indicating the importance of in-group favoritism in headquarters and the influence of subsidiary managers’ role identities on reward management decision making.

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