Fuzzy assessment of land suitability for scientific research reserves

Evaluating the characteristics of a set of sites as potential scientific research reserves is an example of land suitability assessment. Suitability in this case is based upon multiple criteria, many of which can be linguistically imprecise and often incompatible. Fuzzy logic is a useful method for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental management (New York) 2002-04, Vol.29 (4), p.545-558
Main Authors: STOMS, David M, MCDONALD, Jennifer M, DAVIS, Frank W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Conservation of Natural Resources
Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife
Databases, Factual
Ecosystem
Ecosystem management
Environmental management
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Forecasting
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Fuzzy Logic
General aspects
Geography
Habitats
Information Systems
Natural resource management
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Summary:Evaluating the characteristics of a set of sites as potential scientific research reserves is an example of land suitability assessment. Suitability in this case is based upon multiple criteria, many of which can be linguistically imprecise and often incompatible. Fuzzy logic is a useful method for characterizing imprecise suitability criteria and for combining criteria into an overall suitability rating. The Ecosystem Management Decision Support software combined a fuzzy logic knowledge base we developed to represent the assessment problem with a GIS database providing site-specific data for the assessment. Assessment of sites as a potential natural reserve for the new University of California campus at Merced demonstrates the benefits of fuzzy suitability assessment. The study was conducted in three stages of successively smaller assessment regions with increasingly fine spatial resolution and specificity of criteria. Several sites were identified that best satisfy the suitability criteria for a reserve to represent vernal pool habitat.
ISSN:0364-152X
1432-1009
DOI:10.1007/s00267-001-0004-4