Page 48 - A bird’s-eye view of recreation - Rogier Pouwels
P. 48

 A bird's-eye view of recreation
     Amsterdam
    Langervelderslag
  Figure 3. ‘Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen’ dune area near Amsterdam. Black arrows (left figure) are entrance points.
In this case study, we illustrate the integrated use of an agent based model to simulate recreational behavior and an individual based model to simulate response of a population of avian species to alternative management scenarios (Fig. 4). The recreational simulation model is MASOOR (Jochem et al. 2007) and the population model is METAPHOR (Vos et al. 2001, Verboom et al. 2001). We chose an individual based population model because it allows us to translate the disturbance impact of recreational use on individual members of an indicator species to a population level. The combination of both models allowed us to evaluate alternative access scenarios from a conservation viewpoint and a recreational viewpoint.
In the case study, the Skylark (Alauda arvensis) was chosen as an indicator species. The Skylark is a species that showed a decline of 60% in the Netherlands during the last decade. In dune areas, this decline is even larger (Van ‘t Hoff 2002). The population decline in the dune areas is due to increased recreation pressure and habitat quality
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