Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
J Environ Manage. 2013 Oct 15;128:182-91. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2013.05.005. Epub 2013 Jun 7.
Sediment monitoring, tracing and modelling are widely used to identify suspended sediment sources. Although each method has inherent limitations and uncertainties, their integration provides opportunities to form collective knowledge and encourages robust management strategies. This paper presents a Weight-of-Evidence approach to integrate multiple Lines-of-Evidence for identifying suspended sediment sources. Three sources of evidence were used: i) stream flow and suspended sediment monitoring at river gauges; ii) geochemical sediment tracing at river junctions; and iii) catchment-scale suspended sediment modelling of hillslope, gully, streambank and unsealed road erosion. We applied this approach on two data-poor catchments in Australia. Some reaches were consistently identified as major sources of sediment from all Lines-of-Evidence. However, inconsistencies between the types of evidence in other areas highlighted the high uncertainty in identifying suspended sediment sources in these areas and the need for further investigation. The integration framework maximised the use of scarce information, enabled explicit consideration of uncertainties for catchment management and identified where future monitoring and research should be targeted.
泥沙监测、示踪和模拟广泛用于识别悬移质泥沙来源。虽然每种方法都有其内在的局限性和不确定性，但它们的综合应用为形成集体知识和鼓励稳健的管理策略提供了机会。本文提出了一种证据权重方法，用于整合多种悬移质泥沙来源线索。使用了三种证据来源：i）河流测站的水流和悬移质泥沙监测；ii）河流交汇处的地球化学泥沙示踪；以及 iii）集水区尺度的山坡、沟壑、河岸和未封闭道路侵蚀悬移质泥沙模拟。我们在澳大利亚的两个数据匮乏的集水区应用了这种方法。一些河段从所有线索中一致被确定为泥沙的主要来源。然而，其他地区证据类型之间的不一致性突出表明，在这些地区识别悬移质泥沙来源存在高度不确定性，需要进一步调查。综合框架最大限度地利用了稀缺信息，能够明确考虑流域管理中的不确定性，并确定未来监测和研究的重点。
