Development and Application of Comprehensive Agricultural Ecosystems
Models
S-273 Regional
Research Project
Objectives
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Modify, improve and evaluate under a variety of land uses and geographic
areas existing hydrologic/chemical/sediment models incorporating biotic
and economic components.
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Develop new and improved systems to integrate existing data sources to
enhance the applications of the comprehensive models.
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Collect and assemble comprehensive data bases necessary for model development
and evaluation.
Goals
Tools will be developed to assess the impact of agricultural practices
on the hydrologic, chemical, biological and economic response of a watershed.
Algorithms to predict the impact of agricultural practices on the physical
and chemical constituents in water will be developed and refined. GIS-based
decision support systems will be developed to simulate hydrologic/water
quality processes, crop growth, and economic components with a user-friendly
interface. These systems will be used for watershed planning and management
purposes. They will also be used for determining the effects of seasonal
to interannual climate change on agricultural production systems and water
resources. Hydrologic and nutrient transport data, as well as climatological
data necessary for use of these models, will be measured on field-size
experimental pastures.