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Environmental sensitivity mapping — what, why and how

Article in Minerals and the Environment · December 1982

DOI: 10.1007/BF02085976

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Environmental sensitivity mapping -
what, why and how
R. C. Buckley, PhD
Environmental Consultant, AMDEL, PO Box 114, Eastwood, SA 5063, Australia
ABSTRACT
Terms such as environmental stability, resilience or sensitivity
are verbal abbreviations or abstractions for particular features
of environmental stress-response relationships. An
environmental planning map must take account of the range of
possible stresses, responses, and stress-response relations, assess
the significance of each, and express the most significant in a
form imtnediately useable by planning engineers. The most
critical part of this process is predicting the form of the stress-
response relation for each stress and response. This is done
essentially by comparison with similar environmental units
elsewhere where the actual responses of particular stresses are
already known. The level of precision attainable in an
environmental planning map depends on the extent and
relevance of information available for comparison: on the
degree of similarity between the ecosystems and stresses where
the responses are known and those for which the map is being
prepared. The collection of environmental data from the area
concerned, by aerial and .ground survey, is of course also
essential, but such data are of limited value without the
background information required to predict the consequences
of particular actions in the course of development.
INTRODUCTION
Environmental sensitivity maps (ESMs) have been used
for many years in planning and monitoring contexts.
They are not applied as widely or as frequently as their
potential merits, however, for two main reasons. The first
is that ESMs have not been presented in forms that gain
immediate acceptance and hence routine use by engineers
and exploration planners. The second is that though the
concepts of stability, resilience, thresholds and sensitivity
have been used in discussion for decades (see, for
example, Colwell t and Usher and Williamson 2 for
reviews), explicit general methods for the quantitative
determination have not been well defined. ESM methods
in current use are generally based on estimating and
'summing' or otherwise integrating physical and
biological parameters, such as slope or plant cover, which
are presumed to have some bearing on environmental
sensitivity. Indeed they do; but they are not in themselves
measures of sensitivity, and without explicit definition of
the term, such schemes do not realise the potential of
ESMs as planning tools. Here I attempt to define
environmental sensitivity and to discuss the purposes,
methods and problems associated with its estimation.
W H A T IS E N V I R O N M E N T A L SENSITIVITY
In practical terms, environmental sensitivity is a measure
o f how easy it is to inflict damage on a particular area or
produce serious consequences from actions on a limited
Minerals and the Environment, Vol. Four, Page 151.
scale. How can this be expressed as a useful definition?
Tl~e dictionary definition of sensitive is: 'readily
responding to or recording slight changes in condition'.
The critical point is that sensitivity is a derived parameter
rather than a primary one. It cannot be measured directly
because it is the relation between an applied stress and the
resultant strain or response. The environmental
sensitivity of a given environment unit may usefully be
defined as the relation between the response of that unit to
a given stress, and the severity of the stress. This is directly
analogous to the definitions of common engineering
terms such as the sensitivity of a meter or the elasticity of a
material. It is this definition as a stress-response relation
that makes environmental sensitivity a useful parameter
for planning. It is dependent on a definition of environ-
mental unit boundaries, but this is not a significant
limitation in practice. It is apparent that ES as defined
above is not a single scalar quantity but a set of relations
which depends on the actual value of the applied stress
and its variations in the past. This relation also includes
any secondary responses of the initial disturbance by
particular components of the environmental unit
concerned.
What form can the stress-response relation take? Some
common features are illustrated in Figure 1. Firstly, a
given environmental response may be reversible or
irreversible: if the stress is reduced or removed, does the
environmental unit recover? If so, does the recovery track
back along the same path as the original response, or is
there a 'hysteresis' effect? Figure 1 also illustrates a
threshold: a small stress applied at B produces a dispro-
portionately large response. Hence if this environmental
unit were already under some stress, either natural or
anthropogenic, a small extra load could produce a very
significant and perhaps irreversible degradation.
There are a number of important aspects of sensitivity
whcih Figure I does not show, The first is the time f a c t o r -
the rate at which the unit responds to a given increase or
decrease in stress. This is illustrated in Figure 2. The
second is interdependence: Figure 1 treats stresses as
independent, whereas in general, a given stress may
produce several linked strains and a given strain may be
produced by several different stresses. Strains may also be
divided into primary, secondary and higher-order
responses, which may constitute positive or negative
feedback links. As an obvious example, the primary effect
of a bulldozer may be removal of plant cover, but loss of
fauna through habitat destruction is a common
secondary response. Again, loss of plant cover may
destabilise, the soil surface, and this may reduce plant
cover even further.
As used in everyday speech, the terms 'stability' and
152 Environmental sensitivity mapping
D ~
Stress
Figure 1 Stylised representation of possible environmental
stress-response relationships. Axes measure total applied stress
and total response on environmental degradation, respectively
'resilience' encompass two distinct meanings. The
engineer's - and ecologist's - criterion for stability is that
if a system is perturbed or forced slightly from a stable
configuration it will return to that configuration. In
everyday speech, however, 'stable' can also mean that a
system is resistant to disturbance in the first place. This
second meaning would be represented in Figure 1 by a
relation such as CD, where a large increase in stress
produces very little response: this also illustrates than an
ecosystem may become 'stable' when completely
degraded. The first meaning is not tied to any particular
slope - rather, it implies that if the system is forced a small
distance in the direction AD, and the forcing stress then
removed, it will return to its initial configuration.
This is illustrated in Figure 2, where the disturbance of
the system from its initial configuration -'environmental
degradation' - is plotted against time. If this degradation
decreases when the stress is removed, the system is at least
partially stable. Looked at another way, is the initial
response reversible or not: and if so, how much? Simpler
mechanical systems may often overshoot the initial
configuration and oscillate before coming to rest. This
may also occur in some biological systems, e.g.
predator-prey systems). Where entire environmental
units have been stressed by anthropogenic impacts,
however, any recovery is likely to be gradual a n d / o r
incomplete - heavily damped, in engineering terms - as
shown in lines A and B of Figure 2. This type of diagram
can also be used to compare the various possible
responses to a repeated stress (Figure 3). The second
stress may produce the same response and recovery as the
first (A) an exaggerated response (B), or the same
response but a different recovery (C).
WHY MAP ENVIRONMENTAL SENSITIVITY?
What use is environmental sensitivity mapping? Specifi-
cally, how can it be used in planning? The purposes of
planning are to assess the feasibility, costs and conse-
quences of alternative courses of action. A particular
course of action is chosen by comparing its probable costs
and consequences with those of possible alternatives.
I 4E
==
~ --~ ~. c
]~!!!i!iii~iiiiiii:iiiiiii!!!!i Time
Figure 2 (a) The time factor in stress-response relationships. For
a given stress, applied during the first half of the time period
shown, a given response may develop along several different paths
(a. b. c.).
(b) Reversibility of stress-response relationships. If a given
stress is applied and then relaxed, the system may (i) return to its
initial state (path ,4); (ii) recover only partially (path B): (iii)
remain in the state produced by the stress (path C); (iv)continue to
change initially but then stop (path D): or (v) continue to change at
an increasingly rapid rate (path E)
I I I
I I e]~X, ~
/
...%4/S I '~%N= ~ | Time
=1:::::::::::::
Time
Figure 3 Possible effects of repeated stress. The second stress
may produce the same response as the first (path A), an
exaggerated response (path B); or the same initial response but a
different recovery (path C). Response path A and C to the second
stress are shown starting from different recovery pathsfor thefirst
Hence the prediction of consequences is a critical part of
planning: and this prediction is precisely the aim of
environmental sensitivity mapping. To predict the
environmental consequences of a potential development
requires prediction of: (a) the specific stresses it will
impose on the environment concerned, (b) other stresses
which may also be present; (c) the immediate
environmental responses to these stresses; (d) the
secondary and longer-term responses and hence the
potential overall consequences. Of these (c) and (d) are
precisely what I have defined as environmental sensitivity
in the previous section. Hence a map of environmental
sensitivity, if it can be expressed in a useable form, will be
an invaluable aid in planning: particularly since 'environ-
mental consequences' can include not only the potential
 R. C. B u c k l e y
destruction of rare species, etc., but also some very
practical hazards such as flooding, erosion and increased
salinity.
To summarise, the main purposes of environmental
sensitivity maps are to alert field planning personnel to
the potential impacts of any proposed development, and
to enable rapid and rational choice on environmental
grounds between alternative engineering options for such
developments. They can also be used to define the most
critical sites for monitoring the impacts of development.
HOW TO MAP E N V I R O N M E N T A L SENSITIVITY -
T H E BASIS
In the previous section I said that the aim of
environmental sensitivity mapping is to predict the
consequences of alternative development options, by
determining the environmental stresses that such actions
may produce, and the environmental responses to those
and other stresses. How can such predictions be made?
Except at the coarsest levels, such prediction depends
largely on comparison: what were the results of similar
actions or events in similar environments in the past? The
precision with which stress-response relations can be
estimated depends on the extent and relevance of the
information available for comparison: the level of
similarity between the environment and stresses u n d e r
study and those where the responses are known; and the
level of confidence-with which those stress-response
relations can be specified.
To assess this level of similarity requires ttata on the
characteristics of the environment under study, as well as
those used for comparison. The collection of such data is
the most conspicuous step in environmental sensitivity
mapping, but not the most critical. Without the
comparative background, such information provides
sensitivity estimates o n l y at the coarsest level of
environmental response. If a solid causeway is built
across a floodplain, one needs only topographic data to
predict the area likely to be inundated during the next wet
season. If the last remaining stand of rain-forest in a
district is clear-felled, one can confidently predict the
disappearance of the rain-forest fauna. It is not so
straightforward to predict the precise environmental
effects of changes in surface runoff caused by grading a
road across an arid-zone sandplain; or the effects on river
salinity of using its waters for irrigation; or the effects on
crops of prolonged low-level fluoride emissions from an
industrial stack: yet each may have significant conse-
quences. Some such situations are amenable to direct
experimental investigation; but most practical planning
problems are too urgent, too large in scale, or insuffici-
ently replicable for an experimental approach to be
feasible, and compariative techniques are essential.
The next stage is therefore to define the data that must
be collected from the area under study to enable such
comparisons to be made: how does one know that one
environment is similar enough to another for the same
stress-response relations to hold? Each case will be
different, and most overall criteria for data selection are
too vague to be of any practical use. Perhaps the only
useful overall criterion is that the data selection and sensi-
tivity mapping is best done by someone who has practical
experience in the environment under study and
153
comparable areas elsewhere. The following outline is
therefore referred to a specific'environment and type o f
development for illustration, b u t is expressed in general
terms and can easily be translated to other examples.
E N V I R O N M E N T A L SENSITIVITY MAPPING IN
PRACTICE
The practical process of environmental sensitivity
mapping is outlined here with reference to mining
development in the Australian arid zone, but the same
principles apply elsewhere. The specific example used is
the expansion of a producing oil and gas field to include a
new production area. The climate is arid and the main
terrain units are rake-shaped aeolian sand dunes, and
intervening flood channels. The area is within a cattle
grazing lease and is also infested by rabbits. The suggested
procedure is as follows.
Define parameters
1 Define the area under study. This includes all areas
likely to be influenced by any proposed developments,
and may therefore have to be modified during the
course of the study as information on probably
environmental responses is refined. If there is a major
physiographic pattern within the development area,
the study area should extend out to include represent-
ative samples of the main terrain units: flood
channels, salt lakes, and dunefields, for example.
2 Define the developments under consideration. For the
example considered here, such developments are
listed in Table 1.
3 Determine any other factors which may lead to envi-
ronmental stresses within the study area (example:
Table I).
4 Define the specific stresses produced by these develop-
ments and other factors (example: Table 2).
Table 1 Potential developments involved in expansion o f an arid-
zone oil and gas.field to inchtde a new subsidiary field, and other
factors leading to environmental stresses in the area
Developments:
Elevated roadways
Other sealed or sheathed roads
Unsheathed bulldozed or graded tracks and seismic lines
Borrow pits
Drill pads
Culverts and drainage lines
Pipelines: trunk and.gathering lines
Water bores, pumps and pipes
Camps and facilities
Dehydration units
Other factors:
Pastoral stock
Feral animals, particularly rabbits
Weeds, both woody and herbaceous
Changes to fife regime since European arrival
Recreational use of off-road vehicles
154 Environmental sensitivity mapping

Table 2 Potential envh'onmental stresses produced by develop-
ments and other factors listed in Table 1
Disturbance of soil surface
Modifications to groundwater hydrology: pumping, puncturing
aquitards
Modifications to surface hydrology: run-off interruption, sur-
face release of fresh saline groundwater
Removal of plant cover
Introduction of alien plant species
Destruction of native animals
Introduction of feral animals
Modification to fire regime
Atmospheric emissionsfrom on-site plant
appearance on aerial photographs, physiography, soil
type, vegetation structure, floristics, fauna, or some
combination of these? Assuming some initial famili-
arity with the area, criteria can usually be established
for outlining the units from remote imagery, with
reasonable confidence that the areas are so defined
will also differ in soils, vegetation and fauna. This is
subject to checking later. The units for the example
used here are listed in Table 4.
2 For determining sensitivity. This is the most difficult
stage. It requires explicit consideration of the 'com-
parative background' referred to earlier, to define
firstly what the probable response to each stress will
be, and secondly, what information is used in making
these estimates.

Table 3 Environmental responses to stress listed in Table 2

Preliminary mapping
hnmediate responses:
The most efficient way to combine information from
Loss of plant cover or particular species remote imagery and ground survey in a limited time is
Soil surface mobilisation generally a three-stage approach: preliminary map,
Loss of native fauna ground check, final map. The maps required at this stage
are:
Longer-term responses:
1 A base map of environmental units using criteria
Changes in floristic composition defined as above.
Erosion 2 Keyed overlay(s) of relevant physical and biological
Changes in composition of native fauna parameters: relative elevation, probably soil type,
Changes in soil chemistry plant cover, physiognomic or structural vegetation
type, dominance of particular plant 'signature-types'.
Table 4 Environmental units in example study area
Ground survey
Red parallel longitudinal aeolian sand dunes
Pale aeolian rake dunes The scale and detail of the ground survey depends on the
Flood channels area, the development, and the time available. The aims
Flood plains are to check the accuracy of the preliminary maps and add
Sand plain further information. Preferred field parameters are those
Stony plain which can be measured or estimated directly without the
Rocky outcrops need to collect samples, carry out experiments, etc.,
Permanent waterholes though this will depend on the project and time available.
The broad procedure is as follows:
1 Examine several representative central areas in at least
Table 5 FieMparameters for sampling in each environmental
two segments (if present) of each environmental unit
unit of example study area during ground survey
mapped.
2 Check parameters mapped in overlays.
Soil Colour (Munsell chart)
3 Determine and record appropriate additional para-
Modal particle diameter (micrometer eyepiece)
meters from each station. For the example considered
Sorting (estimate poor, medium, good)
here, such parameters are listed in Table 5.
Shallow profile development (spade!)
4 Traverse boundaries between representative sections
Compaction/mobility (estimate, index)
of the mapped environmental units to assess how they
Flora List all species, or dominant species only differ in the physical and biological parameters con-
Fauna List vertebrates observed only (assuming limited sidered.
time available)
Further mapping
5 Distinguish potential primary and higher-order envi-
1 Correct the preliminary maps using information from
ronmental responses to these stresses (example: Table
the ground survey.
3). 2 Add additional field information to overlays.
6 Define mapping scales.
Up to this stage, l~hemaps contain subjective decisions
on the boundaries between environmental units, but not
Define criteria
on environmental sensitivity. They would therefore be
For distinguishing environmental units. Are they to available for reinterpretation if further stress-response
be distinguished on the basis of Landsat signatures, information became available subsequently.
 R. C. Buckley 155
the base map of environmental units, plus shading or
Sensitivity estimates colouring to indicate the value~of the overall sensitivity
1 Using the criteria defined initially, estimate the index, plus symbols showing the main component(s) of
relative sensitivity of each environmental unit to each that sensitivity.
stress. Express this estimate as an index on a scale of,
e.g. I to 5, and tabulate these indices for each unit and
CONCLUSIONS
stress. This involves conversion of physical stress-
response data of many different types into numerical The conclusions may be summarised as follows:
values. This inevitably involves a loss of information,
1 Environmental sensitivity mapping is under-utilised
but it is a necessary step if the information is to be
at present because of inadequacies in definition and
made available to planners as a single comprehensive presentation.
map.
2 Environmental sensitivity can usefully be expressed in
2 Calculate an overall sensitivity index. This involves
terms of stress/response relations.
further loss of information but is needed for the same
3 The most critical part of environmental sensitivity
reason. There are two main approaches. The overall
mapping is not mapping, or collection of physical and
index for each unit can be set equal either to the sum of
biological parameters, but determination or esti-
the individual indices or to the largest of them. These
mation of stress/response relationships.
might be termed 'sum' and 'maximum' indices respec-
4 This is essentially a comparative process and requires
tively. Various intermediates are possible: for
prior experience of the environment concerned and
example, the stresses could be combined in a few
similar environments and stresses elsewhere or in the
major groups and the indices summed within each
past.
group: a 'combined' index. Whichever index is used,
5 Expression of a number of stress-response relations as
the final map can be keyed to indicate which stresses
a single sensitivity index involves considerable loss of
contribute most significantly to each mapped index
information, but is necessary to present stress-
value.
response information in a form of practical use in
3 Divide the overall range of the final index chosen into
planning.
a small number of sectors for mapping. A 'sum' index
6 A critical part of planning is the prediction of conse-
can take an2/value between the product of the lowest
quences o f a l t e r n a t i v e courses o f a c t i o n .
individual index value and the number of individual
Environmental sensitivity mapping is designed with
indices, and the highest such value and that number.
precisely this need in mind and is therefore a valuable
Rarely will it be possible to plot such a range of values
planning tool.
on a single map with any clarity, particularly if it has
to be a black and white line map for dyeline
reproduction. Hence the overall range must be
divided into perhaps 3 to 5 sectors for mapping. REFERENCES
I Colwell, R. K., 'Predictability, constancy and contingeny of
Final mapping periodic phenomena', Ecology, Vol. 55, 1148-53 (1974).
2 Usher, M. G., and Williamson, M. H., Ecological Stability,
The final environmental sensitivity map then comprises Blackwell, London, (1974).

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