Search

Representing qualitative ecological knowledge is of great interest for ecological modelling. QR provides means to build conceptual models and to make qualitative knowledge explicit, organized and manageable by means of symbolic computing. This chapter discusses the main characteristics of QR using well-known examples. It also shows how this technology can be used to represent ecological knowledge and an overview is given of ecological applications that have already been developed using QR. Ongoing QR research focuses on improving QR tools and technology. An additional goal is to integrate quantitative knowledge with qualitative knowledge. In a collaborative work with ecologists, particularly in the construction of reusable knowledge libraries, it is possible to foresee a wider range of applications to ecological modelling and better ways of dealing with the complexity of ecological and environmental systems. But most of all, the deployment of QR technology for ecological purposes should become an important goal in itself because, as pointed out by (Rykiel 1989), “many questions of interest in ecology can be answered in terms of ‘better or worse’, ‘more or less’, ‘sooner or later’, etc.” and when quantitative methods are inadequate or lacking, it is still possible to make estimates, predictions, and decisions with scientific support.

A tidal basin is an inland sea which is almost entirely enclosed by land and connected to the open sea by a tidal inlet. Through the tidal inlets interaction takes place between the tidal basin and the open sea. Due to the tide in the open water, the water level of the tidal basin is driven by the water level on the sea. The water flows from the open sea through the tidal inlet to the tidal basin and back. Sand particles are being transported with the water which affects the bottom of the tidal basin and the tidal inlet. The position of the bottom itself also influences the movement of the sand particles. Due to this interaction, interesting bottom patterns with a fractal structure occur. It is these kind of patterns which we analyse in this dissertation. Therefore, we construct an idealised morphodynamic model. With this model, we can find an expression for four important variables: the water level, the water velocity, the sand transport and the height of the bottom. We investigate the existence of these patterns. Also, their sensitivity to variations of geometry and various physical parameters is analysed. We consider tidal inlet system with a various number of tidal inlets.