Methodology to assess sustainable management of water resources in coastal lagoons with agricultural uses: An application to the Albufera lagoon of Valencia (Eastern Spain)

► Coastal lagoons with agricultural uses can be considered socio-ecological systems. ► Management options consider mainly hydrodynamics, after reduction in load (control at source). ► Methodology uses ecosystem attributes of ecological or social importance – endpoints. ► A Box model has been adapted...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecological indicators 2012-02, Vol.13 (1), p.129-143
Main Authors: Perilla, Olga Lucia Usaquen, Gomez, Aina Garcia, Gomez, Andres Garcia, Diaz, Cesar Alvarez, Cortezon, Jose Antonio Revilla
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural management
Agricultural practices
Agricultural uses
Box model
Coastal
Coastal lagoons
coastal water
crops
Ecology
ecosystems
Eutrophication
humans
Lagoons
Methodology
pollution load
Resource management
rice
Salinization
society
Sustainable management
Water deficit
water management
water quality
Water resources
water salinization
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:► Coastal lagoons with agricultural uses can be considered socio-ecological systems. ► Management options consider mainly hydrodynamics, after reduction in load (control at source). ► Methodology uses ecosystem attributes of ecological or social importance – endpoints. ► A Box model has been adapted, calibrated and validated to estimate endpoints. ► Overall Index assesses eutrophication, salinization and water deficit susceptibility. Coastal lagoons with agricultural uses can be considered socio-ecological systems. These systems require methodologies to assess the sustainable management of water resources in terms of human and environmental requirements. A prompt and up to date methodology, which takes into account the main environmental problems and human activities using ecosystem attributes of ecological and/or social importance (endpoints), has been developed. The overall methodology has been applied to the Albufera of Valencia (Eastern Spain), a littoral lagoon with intensive agricultural practices (rice crops) and where management alternatives to reduce nutrient loads have been implemented, but they have been not enough to achieve environmental goals. An aggregate model has been adapted, calibrated and validated to estimate these key endpoints in that application. The integration of endpoints by means of an overall susceptibility index (OSI) is used to assess the system management. The study concludes that it is possible to use key endpoints to quantify the susceptibility to eutrophication, salinization and water deficit in aquatic systems for agricultural uses. Therefore, the effects on water quality and its availability can be used to establish the influence to achieve environmental and society goals, as a consequence, the system sustainability.
ISSN:1470-160X
1872-7034
DOI:10.1016/j.ecolind.2011.05.019