Using Digital Terrain Modeling to Predict Ecological Types in the Balsam Mountains of Western North Carolina
Relationships between overstory composition and topographic conditions were studied in high-elevation (>1300 meters) forests in the Balsam Mountains of
Using Digital Terrain Modeling to Predict Ecological Types in the Balsam Mountains of Western North Carolina
Relationships between overstory composition and topographic conditions were studied in high-elevation (>1300 meters) forests in the Balsam Mountains of western North Carolina to determine whether models could be developed to predict the occurrence of number vegetative communities in relation to topographic variables (elevation, landscape position, surface geometry, slope gradient, aspect) were measured on 0.10-hectare plots located across a range of mounainous landforms. Analysis of species density and dominance using multvariate classification and ordination techniques indentified five ecological types. Multivariate discriminant analysis indicated that elevation and landscape position were the most important environmental variables associated with presence of ecological types. Landsca