Functional Service Modules

Full service, ecosystem management decision support systems (EM-DSSs) rely on specialized software service modules that add a broad range of capabilities. (Table:Existing ecosystem management decision support software for forest conditions of the United States )Tools to support group negotiation in the decision process are both extremely important and generally unavailable and underutilized. AR/GIS is the most fully developed software available for this function. IBIS, another group negotiation tool, is an issue-based information system that implements argumentation logic (the logic of questions and answers) to help users formally state problems, understand them, clearly communicate them, and explore alternative solutions. Vegetation dynamics simulation models, both at the stand and at the landscape scale, provide EM-DSSs with the ability to forecast the consequences of proposed management actions. Disturbance models simulate the effects of catastrophic events such as fire, insect defoliation, disease outbreaks, and wind damage. Models that simulate direct and indirect human disturbances on ecosystems are not widely available. Although, models that simulate timber harvesting activities exist, they provide little, if any, ecological impact analyses such as the effect of extraction on soil compaction, on damage to remaining trees, or on the growth response of the remaining tree and understory vegetation. Models that simulate the impact of foot traffic, mountain bikes, and horse-back riding in high-use areas are largely missing. Models that simulate climate change, nutrient cycling processes, acid-deposition impacts, and other indirect responses to human disturbance exist but are rarely practical for extensive forest analyses. Stand and landscape level visualization tools have improved dramatically in the last few years. It is now possible, with relatively little effort, to link to and provide data for three-dimensional stand level models such as SVS, as well as landscape level models such as UVIEW and SMARTFOREST.