LEAP
aims
to
develop
a
unified
framework
that
explicitly
incorporates
agricultural
nutrient
legacies
and
time
lags
into
adaptive
management
strategies
to
protect
water
resources
under
changing
climate
and
land
use.
The
research
will
integrate
the
following
three
components:
-
Biophysical:
LEAP
will
fill
key
knowledge
gaps
and
develop
watershed-scale
nutrient
modelling
tools
necessary
to
determining
impacts
of
historical
land-use
patterns
on
current
nutrient
loading
to
surface
and
groundwater.
-
Economic:
LEAP
will
account
for
trade-offs
between
initial
costs
of
BMP
implementation
and
delayed
benefits
of
water
quality
improvements
by
evaluating
appropriate
discounting
methods.
-
Policy:
by
quantifying
nutrient
legacies
and
associated
lag
times,
LEAP
will
help
select
appropriate
(site-specific)
BMPs
and
establish
nutrient
reduction
goals
within
realistic
time
frames.
The
specific
objectives
of
LEAP
are
to:
-
Identify
key
controls
on
the
accumulation
and
mobilization
of
agricultural
N
and
P
legacies,
and
predict
time
lags
between
implementation
of
BMPs
and
water
quality
improvements,
as
a
function
of
climate,
land
cover,
land
use,
and
land
management.
-
Assess
the
outcomes
of
alternative
management
strategies
by
performing
cost-benefit
analyses
within
a
hydroeconomic
modelling
framework
that
explicitly
represents
nutrient
legacies.
-
Develop
a
Bayesian
Belief
Network
(BBN)
framework
to
evaluate
uncertainties
in
both
biophysical
and
hydroeconomic
modelling
of
nutrient
legacies,
and
their
implications
for
nutrient
risk
management.
-
Create
an
agroecosystem
typology
–
based
on
the
individual
EU
and
Canadian
exemplar
sites–
that
links
the
biophysical
and
socioeconomic
drivers
of
NPS
pollution
to
water
quality
impacts.
-
Inform
adaptive
agro-environmental
water
management
practices
that
target
mitigation
of
water
quality
impacts
of
N
and
P
legacies
by
assessing
trade-offs
between
short
and
long-term
costs,
benefits
and
risks.