Assessment of suitable habitat of the natural regeneration C. Libani A. Richard in Slenfeh (Syria)

Abstract

This study evaluated the habitat suitability for the natural regeneration of C. libani A. Richard in the Cedar and Fire Reserve in Slenfeh region of ​​Syria. The satellite imagery was used to generate spatial and forest structure data and spectral indices pertaining to different variables viz., dominant land cover, distance from mature Cedar trees, distance from Broad Leaved trees, distance from forest roads, NDVI index, NDWI, NDMI, MSAVI, DI, SR, SI, and SMI index. A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was used to create Elevation, Slope, Aspect, Curvature, Hillshade, Solar Radiation, Eastness, and Northness layers. The Binary Logistic Regression (BLR) Model was used to analyze the habitat suitability for the natural regeneration of Cedrus libani. The results indicate that 9.5% of the Slenfeh area is suitable for the natural regeneration of Cedrus libani, while 78.23% of this region is unsuitable. The model also predicted the natural regeneration of C. libani in Slenfeh with very good accuracy; which reaches 75%.

Keywords

• Cedrus libani
• Natural regeneration
• Habitat suitability
• Syria
• Slenfeh