Modeling complex human–environment interactions: the Grand Canyon river trip simulator

Abstract

Understanding the impacts of human recreation on natural resources is of critical importance in constructing effective management strategies. The Grand Canyon River Trip Simulator is a computer program that models complex, dynamic human-environment interactions in the river corridor of the Grand Canyon National Park. The system consists of a database and simulator engine. The database contains 487 trip diaries that report all stops for activities and camping along the 447 kilometer Colorado River corridor within the purview of the National Park Service. The computer simulation employs statistics and artificial intelligence in creating an individual-based modeling system. This simulation system successfully models the recreational rafting behavior and captures the decision making of rafting parties as they responsively seek to optimize their experience. The model allows the Park managers to assess the likely impact of various alternative management scenarios for rafting trips on the Colorado River. The Grand Canyon River Trip Simulator advances our abilities to model complex systems in the context of human-environment interactions. It may serve as a suitable template for modeling a suite of other complex adaptive systems including ecosystems.

Socio-hydrological modelling: a review asking "why, what and how?"

“…Roberts et al, 2002;Schlüter and Pahl-Wostl, 2007;Marshall and Stafford Smith, 2013;Molle, 2007), and Welsh et al (2013) term rivers "complicated socio-ecological systems that provide resources for a range of water needs". There are however, important differences between socioecology and socio-hydrology which should be kept in mind when transferring thinking between the two disciplines, for example infrastructure developments such as dams introduce system intervention on a scale rarely seen outside this sphere (Elshafei et al, 2014), and the speed at which some hydrological processes occur at means that processes on vastly different temporal scales must be accounted for (Blöschl and Sivapalan, 1995).…”

Natural resource management in a protected area of the Indian Himalayas: a modeling approach for anthropogenic interactions on ecosystem

“…We noticed that a low percentage of respondents among the younger age group felt that socioeconomic and climate change had any effect on farmer behavior. Understanding the impact of human behavior and interactions with natural resources and environment is a crucial component in constructing effective management strategies (Roberts et al 2002) and provides an opportunity to study the complex behavior of human-landscape interactions within the spatial framework of the study (Drogoul and Ferber 1995;Findler and Malyankar 1995;Schmidt-Vogt 1998).…”

“…Human effects on ecosystems are a big concern all over the world and it is particularly important to understand human influences on the rural landscape where sustainability of the rural people is dependent on the surrounding natural resources. The study of various aspects of the interactions between human and local ecosystems/ landscapes is key to understanding the development process and hence provides the basis for designing and developing the strategies for future sustainable landscape (Mander and Jongman 1998;Schmidt-Vogt 1998;Roberts et al 2002). Sustainable landscape development is a crucial issue world-wide.…”

Quantifying geomorphic and vegetation change at sandbar campsites in response to flow regulation and controlled floods, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

“…While the downstream effects of dams on the hydrology, morphology, and riparian ecology of rivers have been documented extensively in the United States (Graf, ; Schmidt & Wilcock, ; Williams & Wolman, ), there are a growing number of studies that focus on downstream dam impacts to recreational resources. These studies include analysis of instream flow needs for boating (Rood, George, George, & Tymensen, ; Stafford, Fey, & Vaske, ; Whittaker & Shelby, ) and fishing (Whittaker, Shelby, & Abrams, ), boater preferences of downstream sandbar size and characteristics (Stewart et al, ), and river trip planning (Roberts, Stallman, & Bieri, ). This study aims to complement previous recreational research by focusing on the downstream geomorphic and vegetation impacts to sandbars used recreationally as campsites.…”