Geographic information systems (GIS) use in forest pest management : A simulated study on mountain pine beetle infestation

Lee, K.S. . Dept. of Forest and Wood Sciences

Geographic information systems (GIS) use in forest pest management : A simulated study on mountain pine beetle infestation

1989

Lee, K.S. (Colorado State Univ., Colorado (USA). Dept. of Forest and Wood Sciences)

Recent development of geographic information systems (GIS) provides a great deal of potential in handling a variety of spatial data required by forest resource managers. This study is designed to identify a possible GIS application in forest pest management. Several mountain pine beetle risk assessment parameters (stand characteristics, weather conditions, and topographic factor) were spatially analyzed through computer map overlaying operations in order to estimate the hazard level of the pest damage. In addition, the expected infestation route from an initially infected forest stand was located through further map analysis operations (distance measurement and connectivity analysis). Although current GIS technology may have a few limitations in operational situations, the computer based GIS has been proven as an invaluable tool to resource managers by providing flexible spatial data handling capabilities

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