Modelaje espacial de la influencia de combustibles forestales sobre la regeneración natural de un bosque perturbado

Abstract

Forest fuels are one of the main factors that define an adequate establishment and development of forest regeneration. Therefore, in this study, the spatial relationship between regeneration, establishment and presence of forest fuels is modeled. The data was obtained from 79 sample plots systematically distributed in a watershed of 1400 ha at Tapalpa, State of Jalisco, México. Based on dominance, six regeneration classes were defined. Three interpolation alternatives were tested and compared: Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), Ordinary Kriging (simple stochastic interpolation) and Cokriging (multivariate stochastic interpolation). For Cokriging, nine fuel variables were defined. Individuals between 0.3. and 2.5 m of height represented natural tree regeneration. Geostatistics techniques (mainly Cokriging) showed the best results; however, in one case IDW was better. No single interpolation technique has to be used in all situations. The results will support fuel management strategies.