Linking science and management in the adoption of sensor network technology in the Great Barrier Reef coast, Australia

Coastal and reef policy decisions and management programs require research to address current and emerging issues, to detect trends in key environmental variables and to help evaluate the effectiveness of management strategies. The technology and infrastructure components are now well developed and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Computers, environment and urban systems environment and urban systems, 2009-03, Vol.33 (2), p.111-121
Main Authors: de Freitas, Débora M., Kininmonth, Stuart, Woodley, Simon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptive management
Barriers
Bridging information gap
Chlorophylls
Coastal
Coastal environments
Decisions
Drivers
Floods
Infrastructure
Management
Networks
Policies
Policy–science interface
Real time
Real-time data
Reefs
Sensors
Turbidity
Water circulation
Water quality
Wireless communication
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Summary:Coastal and reef policy decisions and management programs require research to address current and emerging issues, to detect trends in key environmental variables and to help evaluate the effectiveness of management strategies. The technology and infrastructure components are now well developed and understood, but the useful application of sensor network data and efficient delivery of real-time information still needs improvement to better incorporate management needs and priorities. This paper aims to contribute to the current understanding of the adoption of wireless technology in research and practice, by identifying the main drivers and barriers to the adaptive deployment of an environmental sensor network along the Great Barrier Reef coast. Specifically, it addresses the extent to which the deployment of sensor networks and the delivery of real-time data can best suit managers’ and decision makers’ needs by providing timely and useful spatial data. Study findings indicate that, although researchers and managers ask significantly different questions requiring real-time spatial data, there is great potential and interest from both science and management for continuous automatic monitoring of environmental parameters. Some of the key research and management needs that the sensor network technology should address include measuring water (marine) quality at biological monitoring sites, water circulation patterns and flood plume water quality, gathering long-term data on turbidity, photosynthetically active radiation and chlorophyll a, and developing uniform standards for the provision of data to networks.
ISSN:0198-9715
1873-7587
DOI:10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2008.11.002