29th Annual Meeting and Symposium of the
Desert Tortoise Council, February 20-23, 2004
Abstracts

Desert Tortoise Decision Support: Modeling Knowledge

Jill S. Heaton, Frank Davenport, Rich Inman, and Paul Burgess
University of Redlands, 1200 East Colton Avenue o Redlands, CA 92373 (909-335-5383, Heaton)

The decline of the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) is a challenge for scientists and land managers in the Western Mojave. Both groups must analyze and understand large volumes of data and knowledge that are often riddled with gaps and uncertainty. The Redlands Institute Desert Tortoise Project is using Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDSTM) to assist scientists and managers in understanding the interrelationships, uncertainty, and relative influence of scientific knowledge on modeling desert tortoise habitat. EMDS consists of three components: a knowledge base, a landscape assessment, and a decision analysis system. EMDS is a tool for understanding desert tortoise knowledge, modeling desert tortoise habitat, and prioritizing research and data collection efforts based on the influence of missing data and knowledge within the model. This paper will focus on the process and results of the habitat potential knowledge bases, with a brief explanation of the landscape assessment and decision analysis system. The knowledge base is a hierarchal model acting as a conceptual map of desert tortoise knowledge and data. The knowledge base is constructed through a collaborative process involving a combination of literature review and knowledge modeling workshops with desert tortoise experts. This paper will provide a brief introduction on EMDS tools and concepts, results of the collaborative model building process, and an overview of the habitat potential knowledge base.