Applying a Dynamic Model to Assess the Carrying Capacity of Natural Resources in the Great Lakes Environment | Chapter 01 | Current Research in Education and Social Studies Vol. 2
A system dynamics method to assess
carrying capacity of a defined natural environment is presented. The proposed
method seeks to relate per capita resource usage to ranges of population and
per capita consumption beyond which the system is not viable relative to
population dependent resource constraints. It provides a platform to
investigate system behavior through system dynamics simulations where
populations change, natural resources decay due to stressor impacts, and
feedback occurs via implementation of policy. Application of the model to a
case study of Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) of phosphorous in Bear Lake, a
Lake Michigan estuary (USA), shows the major total phosphorous (P) loading
contribution is anthropogenic land use development. Three scenarios are
quantitatively explored by assuming changes in land use and/or loading rates.
Simulation results show tradeoffs between reduction of total P and land use;
economic development can be flexibly evaluated against targets of loading
reduction trajectories.
Author(s) Details
Yongliang Jin
Maryland Department of Transportation,
707 N Calvert St, Baltimore, MD 21202, Maryland, USA.
Dr. Richard P. Donovan
California Institute for
Telecommunications and Information Technologies, University of California,
Irvine, USA.
Dr. William S. Breffle
College of Business, Michigan
Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, USA.
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