An Expert System To Support Site Preperation Decisions Related To Reforestation

AbstractSite preparation is commonly employed in forestry in order to improve reforestation success. Application of the proper treatment can affect the future ecology of the site significantly. Site preparation decisions are naturally complex as they relate to processes that involve interaction of a multitude of ecological factors.There are three major types of treatment — prescribed burning, mechanical, and chemical. The preferred treatment depends on the site, and for a given treatment, details of application have to be carefully chosen. A treatment may have several ecological outcomes. Of these, a crucial one is the effect of the treatment on the seedling productivity. It is important to be able to predict this effect in order to choose the most appropriate treatment. However, no analytic models to predict the effects of a treatment on a given situation exist. Moreover, the outcomes are measured in terms of multiple variables which interact in a complex and not fully known way to affect seedling growth...