Raster Modeling of Indicator Plant Species for Monitoring Restoration

of the Longleaf Pine Ecosystem

Michael RasserUniversity of Texas Marine Science Institute

The Problem

Restoration of Longleaf Pine• Prescribed Fire

• Planting of Longleaf Seedlings

• Restoration of ground cover

Objectives

• Test the efficacy of using the geostatistical analyst to interpolate surfaces of species distribution based on point data.

• Generate distribution maps for 7 indicator species important for monitoring restoration success.

• Create a map that can be used to prioritize areas for restoration.

Study Site

Previous Land Use

Methodology

1. Geo-reference data from relational database with sample point locations

2. Determine appropriate geostatistical model to interpolate point layer into raster surface

3. Create grid surfaces for each of the indicator species.

4. Create a map of “ecological integrity” that can be used to prioritize restoration areas.

Data• Biological Communities Map

(.shp)

• Vegetation Sampling Database (MS access)

• Property Boundary (.shp)

• Sample Point Locations (.shp)

Georeferencing of Tabular Data

MS ACCESS

ARCGIS Attribute Table

Testing of Geostatistical Models

Model Validation

Testing of Geostatistical Models Species RMS Prediction Error

Kriging IDW

Longleaf Pine 15.02 15.44

Turkey Oak 6.592 6.946

Laurel Oak 10.4 11.64

Black Cherry 0.6105 0.5965

Wire Grass 10.4 11.64

Winged Sumac 12.89 13.15

Cross Validation

Creation of Species Maps

Raster Calculations

Development of Ecological Integrity Map

Combined 4 species negatively associated with ecological quantityby creating a new raster layer with the mean value.

Reclassification of Cell Values

Legend

piparanked

VALUE

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Legend

PIPA

ValueHigh : 32.495926

Low : 0.000000

Reclassified 5 layers

Woody SpeciesWire GrassLongleaf PineTurkey Oak

Creation of Weighted Raster Layer for Ecological Integrity

• Weighted species based on Importance

• Reclassified after weighting to create 0 – 10 scale

Incorporated Existing Biological Community Map

Convert Grid to shapefileClip shapefile with existing biological communities shapefile to exclude all but longleaf pine community