USER-ORIENTED CONCEPTUAL MODELING IN 



THE ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SEA ISLANDS 



AND COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA 



JohnJ.Manzi^ and Robert J. Reimold^ 



INTRODUCTION 



The Division of Marine Resources, South 

 Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Depart- 

 ment, began work in February 1977 on an eco- 

 logical characterization of the sea islands and 

 coastal areas of South Carolina and Georgia. This 

 work is under contract to the U.S. Fish and Wild- 

 Hfe Service and has as its principal goal "a descrip- 

 tion of the important components and processes 

 comprising (sea island) ecosystems and an under- 

 standing of their important functional relation- 

 ships" (Palmisano, 1978). The final products of 

 the characterization include (1) a conceptual 

 model which identifies system components and 

 their interactions; (2) a characterization atlas 

 which illustrates through graphs, pictorials, tables, 

 and maps the socioeconomic, physical, and bio- 

 logical aspects of the study area; (3) a characteriza- 

 tion narrative and bibliography which summarizes 

 available published and unpublished data on the 

 study area; and (4) a data appendix containing un- 

 published data used in the characterization effort 

 (U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildhfe 

 Service, RFP FWS-8-206, 25 June 1976). These 

 products should provide essential information to 

 decisionmakers concerning proposed or existing 

 perturbations in the coastal areas of South Carolina 

 and Georgia. In addition, the characterization 

 should also indicate where serious data gaps exist 

 and perhaps place priorities on the direction of 

 future research. 



The conceptual model, as originally outlined 

 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (RFP FWS- 

 8-206), was to function primarily as an instrument 

 to assist in collection and organization of data. In 

 this context, the model would form a framework 

 of the coastal ecosystems indicating principal com- 

 ponents and the relationships between them. The 

 model would then act as a guide to project partici- 



Marine Resources Research Institute, Charleston, S.C. 29412 

 ■'Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Brunswick, Ga. 31520 



pants in their individual assignments and thus 

 provide the cohesion necessary to produce a uni- 

 form and consistent characterization. In practice, 

 the conceptual model for the ecological characteri- 

 zation of the coastal areas of South Carolina and 

 Georgia has evolved into a user-oriented- (rather 

 than producer-oriented) guide to the coastal eco- 

 systems characterization products (narrative, atlas, 

 and data appendix). The present paper traces this 

 evolution and describes the model/user package 

 concept adopted for the sea island characterization 

 project. 



CONCEPTUAL MODELING- 

 INITIAL PROPOSAL 



In August 1976, the Division of Marine Re- 

 sources, South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Re- 

 sources Department, responded to RFP FWS-8- 

 206 with a proposal to develop a comprehensive 

 ecological characterization of the sea islands and 

 coastal plain of South Carolina and Georgia. In this 

 document we proposed a schedule of ecosystem 

 modeling strongly based in systems analysis (Dale 

 1970). The model we initially proposed to develop 

 was to serve four primary functions: (1) orderly 

 accumulation of knowledge about the ecosystem; 

 (2) synthesis of this knowledge into functional 

 relationships; (3) definition of areas in need of fur- 

 ther study; and (4) systems analysis for planning 

 and management of resource utilization and con- 

 servation. Thus, it would indicate what data are to 

 be collected and where they would be used in the 

 actual characterization. 



The model was to be characterized by four 

 basic elements: compartments, flows between 

 entities, major inputs or external driving forces, 

 and major outputs or products. The compartments 

 would identify major entities and sets within enti- 

 ties. In principal subsystems, the compartments 

 would identify habitats and then major storage 

 areas (biotic and abiotic) within the subsystems. 

 Major driving forces (inputs) and products (outputs) 



19 



