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The third millennium has brought a number of changes in every single sphere of people’s lives, and ecology is no exception. In the present-day world, when people live in an information society, a new phenomenon has entered the realm of ecology to change the later once and for all; called Geographic Information Systems, or GIS, the given issue has offered new methods to solve the old-time problems, yet revealed many new challenges.
Analyzing two articles in which GIS methods were used as the key element of the research will help locate the GIS principles in the modern landscape ecology. To start with, the phenomenon mentioned above needs a viable definition. It must be noted that GIS can be defined in several ways depending on the prospect that it is considered from.
However, picking the most general and all-embracing definition of GIS, one should consider the following: “GIS is a tool for understanding and analyzing spatial information that also incidentally provides mechanisms for making beautiful, convincing maps” (Ornis 279). To display the significance of the use of GIS in the landscape ecology realm, it is reasonable to consider two papers the authors of which use different GIS analysis strategies.
“The quantitative estimation of the soil erosion using USLE type ROMSEM model. Case-study – the Codrului Ridge and Piedmont (Romania)” written by Arghius and Arghius, as well as “An assessment of the uncertainty of delimited catchment boundaries,” the study conducted by Miller and Morrice, will be used for these purposes.
Speaking of the data sources that the authors of the two articles in question use for their papers, it is necessary to stress that Miller and Morrice tend to use various data sources in their study to offer the readers the most objective evaluation of the issue in question, which is the catchment boundaries assessment. As the authors explained, “An assessment is presented of the derivation of catchment boundaries from sources of different scales” (Miller and Morrice 445).
Therefore, Miller and Morrice prefer practice to theory by conducting the experiment, in contrast to the next study. Arghius and Arghius, in their turn, resort to such data sources as academic papers and reports, e.g., “’Romanian Waters’ National Administration, Someş-Tisa Branch” (Arghius and Arghius 65) and the like. Both papers process the obtained information in unique ways.
Arghius and Arghius use the “simulated errors in digital elevation data” (Arghius and Arghius 449), while Miller and Morrice prefer “overlapping, combining and spatial analysis” (Miller and Morrice 61). The conclusions of each paper are unique. Arghius and Arghius claim that the model that they used to evaluate the soil erosion is rather efficient; moreover, with the help of the given model, they have come to the conclusion that the soil erosion in the Codrului Ridge and Piedmont does not pose any tangible danger yet.
As for Miller and Morrice, the research has shown that “GIS is a powerful tool to display the extent of subsurface formation and identify potential zones for well field development” (Miller and Morrice 519). The authors of the research use the overlay analytical operation within the GIS environment to conduct the study, which is stated clearly in the following passage:
“The final product, the surface erosion map of the studied territory (Fig. 9), results by integrating and applying the GIS overlay technique of overlapping, combining and spatial analysis of the layers” (Arghius and Arghius 61). In the given situation, the chosen operational method seems the most adequate. If considering the overlay technique closer, one will see that it helps take into account the impact that the soil erodibility and rainfall erosivity has on the landscape (Arghius and Arghius 63).
Therefore, the map created with the help of overlapping technique can be easily adjusted to the changes that will most likely happen to the selected area in the nearest future. The second research obviously uses such an analytical operation as the viewshed technique in their study. However, in contrast of the previous paper, in the research conducted by Miller and Morrice, the chosen analytical operation serves not only as the means to conduct the research, but as an object of the research as well.
According to what the authors of the research claim, a final approach to assessing the sensitivity of catchment boundary delimitation with respect to the input data has been to simulate alternative representations of the elevation model […].The approach has been used for assessing the sensitivity of viewsheds to errors in elevation data […] using a standard deviation of 3.0 m for the Ordnance Survey 1:5 0000 DEM. (Miller and Morrice 449)
Analyzing the above-mentioned, one must admit that the authors offer a rather unique problem to solve; to be more exact, the paper is aimed at testing the significance of an analysis operation known in the GIS environment as a viewshed. Meanwhile, the research method that the article is based on is referred to as the way to “simulate alternative representations of the elevation model” (Miller and Morrice 449).
Thus, it can be concluded that such GIS analysis strategies as overlapping and viewshed have become quite popular over the past few decades. Moreover, the analyzed papers have helped define that the GIS analysis strategies mentioned above have proven to be of great help for conducting researches in the landscape ecology realm. Offering a huge range of new opportunities, the GIS analysis strategies seem nowadays a very promising start.
Literature Cited
Arghius, C. and V. Arghius. 2011. The quantitative estimation of the soil erosion using USLE type ROMSEM model. Case-study – the Codrului Ridge and Piedmont (Romania). Carpathian Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences 6.2, 59-66.
Miller, D. R. and J. G. Morrice. 1996. An assessment of the uncertainty of delimited catchment boundaries. LAHS 235, 445-451.
Ornis, H. Ecology 101. 13 February 2013. Web.
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