Abstract
The sensitivity of the United States Forest Health Monitoring network to outbreaks of defoliating insects was examined by means of a simulation study. A model constructed specifically for the study was used to generate a wide variety of defoliation patterns in forested landscapes. Forest configuration was that of Minnesota, USA, as expressed by the GAP land cover classification. Combinations of model parameters were based on a Latin Hypercube sample. The relationship between the average number of plots defoliated and outbreak characteristics was then examined via multiple regression. Both theoretical and model results pointed to a strong, linear relationship between the average number of plots defoliated and outbreak size. Model results provided additional insight, suggesting a significant relationship between the average number of plots defoliated and other outbreak characteristics after outbreak size was taken into account.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 289-307 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | Environmental Monitoring and Assessment |
| Volume | 122 |
| Issue number | 1-3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 2006 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Funds for this research were provided by a USDA Forest Service Forest Health Monitoring Evaluation Monitoring Grant, University of Minnesota Department of Forest Resources Agricultural Experiment Station Project 42-044, Dr. Thomas Eugene Avery Graduate Fellowship, and Dr. T. Schantz-Hansen Memorial Research Fellowship. The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Jim Steinman and Manfred Mielke, both of the USDA Forest Service.
Keywords
- Defoliation
- Forest health monitoring
- Latin hypercube design
- Sensitivity
- Simulation modeling