BIO_SOS Modelling Activities: Modelling Runoff-Sediment Connectivity

Pressures and threats to an ecosystem and its function need to be predicted and quantified: only knowing them , actions can be taken to avoid them. This is particularly true when the pressures are created by human actions and decisions. Part of these pressures causes changes in a) the water (and sediment) regime, b) the input of water and sediment into given parts of an ecosystem and c) water availability. These impacts can be estimated by means of a simple runoff-erosion model, easy to use and to understand and linked to a spatially distributed description of the landscape where the ecosystem to protect and conserve is located.