SPATIAL DYNAMIC EMERGENT HIERARCHIES SIMULATION AND ASSESSMENT SYSTEM

Over the last decade, concerns over the fragility of the earth's resources resulting from centuries of human-related activities have, like never before, captured the attention of environmental policy and decision-makers. To simulate an ecosystem using computer modeling will require a design which tends to emulate a natural system in its construction. This paper describes the development of a modeling framework referred to as Spatial Dynamic Emergent Hierarchies Simulation and Assessment System (SDEHSAS), a tool for the evaluation and simulation of environmental and ecological processes. We discuss the four key technological areas of the assessment system: data base management systems (DBMS); DBMS integration pathway; intra-system communications; and self-adapting models currently being developed as methods for solving the spatial and temporal scale as well as multiple model interactions. SDEHSAS provides a road map for the development of advanced models that can be used with data bases representing different environmental conditions, running on distributed systems and having the capacity of tracking process interactions. SDEHSAS can provide modelers with a common protocol that will allow the development of complex spatial simulations to be addressed more easily and with less trouble.