CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
Search Results
Author : Gabriel, A.O.
Date : 1993
Title : Conceptualizing environmental stress: a sandy barrier model and policy implications
Publication : Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Unviersity of Guelph, Guelph.
Issue :
Page(s) : 327 p.
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to develop and apply a conceptual framework of environmental stress-response for a geomorphic system. A broad review of theories and methodologies in ecology and geomorphology provide a number of stress concepts pertinent to modelling environmental stress-response, including those related to stress-dependency, frequency-recovery relationships, environmental heterogeneity, spatial linkages, and temporal change. Selected constructs and methods generated from the literature review are applied in the development of an integrative stress-response framework using existing environmental modelling techniques: interaction matrices and a systems diagram. The major emphasis of the framework is on the interaction between environmental stress and the geomorphic environment of the Long Point sandy barrier system. Findings of the model are applied in a discussion elaborating the stresses operating on barrier subsystems. This discussion indicates Long Point's stress-response and recovery are greatly impacted by fluctuating water levels, stress intensity and frequency, as well as environmental gradients such as differences in sediment storage and supply. Aspects of these stress-response variables may be articulated in terms of three main implications for sustainable management: dynamic stability, spatial integrity, and temporal variability. These in turn form the framework for evaluative principles which are applied to assess how the policies and practices of selected management agencies at Long Point reflect key biophysical processes and human stresses identified by the model.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology