Predictive Models for Reforestation and Agricultural Reclamation: A Clearfield County, Pennsylvania Case Study

Abstract

Natural resource scientists, concerned citizens, and government officials are interested in reconstructing disturbed environments for reforestation and agricultural productivity. We examined Clearfield County in Pennsylvania, USA, to develop a predictive model to reconstruct the landscape for seven agronomic crops (corn, corn silage, oats, alfalfa hay, red clover, bluegrass, and soybeans) and thirteen woody plants (white cedar, lilac, highbush cranberry, Amur maple, gray dogwood, peashrub, white spruce, white pine, red maple, red pine, jack pine, nannyberry, and white ash). A significant predictive model (p ≤ 0.001) was generated explaining 96.94% of the variance, with percent clay, bulk density, hydraulic conductivity, available water capacity, pH, percent organic matter, percent rock fragments, slope, topographic position, and electrical conductivity explored as main effect terms, plus squared terms, and first order interaction terms. The model is not over-specified and each predictor is significant (p ≤ 0.05). The modeling effort suggests that there are at least several clusters of vegetation preference dimensions based upon the terrain of the landscape. The model provides insight into how to reconstruct the disturbed environment for vegetation in the study area.

The American Landscape Architecture Research Universe and a Higher Education Ordination: Descriptive Insights into the Discipline and Profession of Landscape Architecture

“…The American Landscape Architecture Research Universe and a Higher Education Ordination… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99119 quality [12][13][14][15] and in natural resources to develop soil reclamation Eqs. [16][17][18][19][20][21]. 'Human intrusion theory' in explaining visual quality equations [22] and 'mesic preference theory' for reclaiming surface mines [23] are explanations that are scientific theories developed by landscape scholars.…”