Abstract

The Natureplanner is essentially a computer system to predict the effects of environmental and spatial scenarios on nature for national and regional policy. It supports further the decisions on setting environmental standards, on detection of the dominant stress factor and the choice between area specific or general or mitigation measures and the costs. The smallest spatial resolution is 250*250 m. The dominant stress factor will be the most cost effective target for policy making; in some areas this will be desiccation and in others it may be eutrophication caused by deposition of NH3 from agriculture. The system has functions for viewing databases and maps of species distribution, soil or environmental scenario's. It is possible to choose a new vegetation structure in certain grid cells and than to compute the probability of occurrence of species under the given environmental conditions of soil, groundwater and acid or N-deposition. Another important application of the Nature Planner on a more regional scale is the computation of the specific critical N-load for a nature reserve. Further development is going on in close co-operation with other research institutes and some provinces with respect to: aquatic ecosystems, ecotoxicological aspects, succession/management practices, salinity, climate, and a separate module for effects of environmental changes and landscape fragmentation on birds and other fauna.