Estimating the biomass production of three rangeland species using geo-statistic techniques, Taleghan, Iran
Paper Details
Estimating the biomass production of three rangeland species using geo-statistic techniques, Taleghan, Iran
Abstract
The study area of the current study is located in Taleghan region, Iran;enclosing about 54 hectares. What is argued here, is estimating the amount of biomass production of some rangeland species by making use of geo-statistical techniques. Random systematic sampling design was applied with 100 quadrats of one square meter area in two phases. In the first phase, random starting point located in the Phlomis-Astragalus,25 quadrates were drawn parallel to the slope and another 25 quadrates perpendicular to the slope, keeping regular 10-meter distances in between. In the second phase also, another 50 quadrates were drawn. For each quadrat, biomass of the species and GPS locations were recorded (discarding the quadrates lacking the species of interest). The corresponding variogram for the 100 quadrates was plotted in the next step and showed a low level of homogeneity for the recorded biomasses. Using the OrdinaryKriging and by analyzing the obtained variogram, the amount of biomass of Astragalusgossipinu, BromustomentellusandAgropyronsibiricumwas determined for the quadrates delimiting one square meter. In the obtained variogram, the random variance was high implying a poor representation of the biomass production for the species. Accordingly, the geo-statistic techniques based on analyzing variograms and by applying Kriging method are not the appropriate way to perform such studies.
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Fateme noori, Bahram gholinejad , 2014. Estimating the biomass production of three rangeland species using geo-statistic techniques, Taleghan, Iran. J. Biodiv. Environ. Sci., 4(5), 252-257.
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