Sirex: Forest damage diagnosis as a constraint satisfaction problem

Sirex is an information service concerning common damaging agents of forest trees in Finland. Its main applications are: (1) as a collection of hypermedia documents about damaging agents and (2) for diagnosis of forest damage. Sirex is available for a global audience in the Internet through the World-Wide Web technology. The diagnosis is based on a constraint satisfaction framework. To describe damaging agents, their occurrence areas, the problems they may cause, the tree species they affect, etc., we define a constraint graph that is evaluated using a backtracking algorithm. We conclude that diagnosing abiotic and biotic forest damage translates conveniently to a constraint satisfaction problem; Sirex can identify common forest damage and damaging agents in Finland. The current selection of required information is based on regional needs, but the system is planned for global expansion.