TITLE:
Site Suitability Analysis for Cork Oak Regeneration Using GIS Based Multicriteria Evaluation Techniques in Maamora Forest-Morocco
AUTHORS:
Bawinabadi M. Bagaram, Fouad Mounir, Saïd Lahssini, Quentin Ponette
KEYWORDS:
Fuzzy Logic, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Weighted Linear Combination (WLC), Spatial Analysis, Maamora
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.3 No.3,
March
22,
2016
ABSTRACT: Following the assumption that some soils are less suitable for the
development of cork oak, a substitution of cork oak by exotic species has been
carried out on a large part of Maamora forest. However, soil is not the only
factor to consider in assessing the suitability. Therefore, some areas might
just suit to cork oak but to what extent? To answer this question, major
factors known to influence the regeneration of cork oak have been identified
and mapped using multicriteria evaluation. Therefore, factors were incorporated
by weighted linear combination to determine suitability indices for the
regeneration of cork oak. The weight of each factor was estimated by expert
judgment using the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) approach. The main factors
influencing the cork oak regeneration suitability in Maamora forest are climate
expressed by “continentality”, terrainslope, thickness of the sand, slope of
the clay floor layer, and plant communities and soil types. These factors were
mapped by incorporating fuzzy logic in order to avoid crisp classes and ensure
a smooth transition between the preference and indifference. This allowed then
to integrate uncertainty in the knowledge of the exact class limits. Finally,
four classes of regeneration suitability were obtained. These classes are good,
medium, low and very low suitability and which represent 17.40%, 40.18%, 34.84%
and 4.28% of the forest area respectively.