  Electron transport through disordered quasi one-dimensional quantum systems
is studied. Decoherence is taken into account by a spatial distribution of
virtual reservoirs, which represent local interactions of the conduction
electrons with their environment. We show that the decoherence distribution has
observable effects on the transport. If the decoherence reservoirs are
distributed randomly without spatial correlations, a minimal degree of
decoherence is necessary to obtain Ohmic conduction. Below this threshold the
system is localized and thus, a decoherence driven metal-insulator transition
is found. In contrast, for homogenously distributed decoherence, any finite
degree of decoherence is sufficient to destroy localization. Thus, the presence
or absence of localization in a disordered one-dimensional system may give
important insight about how the electron phase is randomized.
