Modeling the Effects of Interactions between Environmental Variables on the State of an Environmental Issue: The Case of the Morelos State in Mexico

Abstract

An important use of environmental indicators is oriented to know their individual impact on the whole environment quality. Nevertheless, most of the important causes of environment affectations are derived from multiple interactions between indicators which correspond more specifically to the environmental reality. The affectations derived from interactions should be analyzed and interpreted through numerical expressions representing a relevant challenge for developers of environmental indicators. To cope with the analysis and interpretation problem, we propose in this work a methodology in two senses: in a bottom-up sense a directed graph is built representing interactions between environmental indicators as behavioral relations, which exert an effect on the state of an environmental issue of a site over time (10 years); in a top-down sense to assist users in the analysis and interpretation of interactions through a computer interface that provides users with the capacity of knowing how and what relational behaviors between indicators are affecting, the most or the least, the performance of the environmental issue being studied. This methodology was applied to the analysis an interpretation of interactions between environmental variables that affect the state of an environmental quality issue related with the State of Morelos in Mexico. The results showed the adequate expressivity of a directed graph to represent interactions allowed to verify the coherence of the numerical values associated with their behaviors during a period of time and with their effects on the environmental issue under study.

Environment-Smart Agriculture and Mapping of Interactions among Environmental Factors at the Farm Level: A Directed Graph Approach

“…Ramos-Quintana et al, [11] argue that the right approach of describing and representing an environmental issue (e.g., ESA) is to develop the behavioral relations (dependencies) between a source and a final target. Therefore, building a synergistic linkage among certain factors of on-farm environmental impacts is relevant, which allows identifying important factors both numerically and visually [11].…”

“…Therefore, building a synergistic linkage among certain factors of on-farm environmental impacts is relevant, which allows identifying important factors both numerically and visually [11]. Representation of the factor behavior helps to assess environmental sustainability precisely [24].…”

“…Then, these elementary relations can be combined to form complex relationships until one obtains a complete pictorial graph that adequately represents all factor interactions influencing the uncertainties/constraints in practicing ESA. Figure 1 shows the process of building and representing the graph of uncertainties/constraints in practicing ESA using the bottom-up approach [11]. The first tier is designed for collecting data on factors of on-farm environmental impacts.…”

“…The slope indicates how one factor variable responds to a change in another factor variable, which can be read by its upward or downward directions. A set of rules is defined, which provide information on responses of both factors and allow comparison of their influence on the concerned environmental issue [11,31]. The definition of the rules should be based on the angle formed by the axes of the two factors, e.g., factor A and factor B.…”

“…In this connection, mapping of interactions of the factors of environmental impacts is important and can be presented by the directed graph approach, which expresses such factor interactions as behavioral relations. Additionally, interpretation of such behavioral relations, analyzed digitally by computer interface, would facilitate environmental policy makers to understand the cause and effect relationships amongst negative environmental impacts and resulting challenges for practicing ESA [11]. This paper focuses on these relevant aspects of evaluating the on-farm environmental impacts produced by chemical-intensive agricultural practices, which poses as a challenge to practice ESA.…”