Remote Sensing and GIS Applications in Environmental Sciences
Estimating the area of land suitable for Populus euramericana planting in Golestan province using a geographic information system
Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 Assistant Prof., Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran, I.R. Iran
2 Associate Prof., Forest Research Division, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Tehran, I.R. Iran
Abstract
In order to implement this project in Golestan province, initially, the ecological indices of Populus euramericana species including temperature, precipitation, soil and physiography were determined. Then, climatic and temperature data were collected from meteorological stations and climatic information layer, non-forest lands layer, agricultural and garden lands layer, texture, salinity and acidity of soil, physiographic, and current status of poplar plantation layer were prepared. By Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and layers weighted overlay methods and intersect command, and then weighting each of these ecological indices, according to the ability of P. euramericana species to cultivate, they were classified and prioritized in the Geographic Information System (GIS) into areas with suitable and unsuitable potential for development of poplar cultivation.
Results: The results showed that poplar development potential in Golestan province is 233.57 ha into two types of irrigation and rainfed with supplementary irrigation that 6.53 ha is rainfed with supplementary irrigation. The type of irrigation in Bandargaz County is 6.53 ha of rainfed land with supplementary irrigation in the summer, and in other counties, the potential for poplar cultivation is irrigation.
Conclusions: This potential for poplar cultivation in Golestan province is 63.61 percent higher than the current levels of wood farming in the province. In this province, poplar trees are cultivated in a strip from the west of the province to the center and to some extent to the east of the province, and their amount decreases towards the east of the province, so that the extreme eastern region of the province which has the least poplar cultivation, reaches Galikesh County.
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