The Classification of Forest Cover Types by Consecutive Application of Multivariate Statistical Analysis in the Natural Forestof Western Mt. Jiri

摘要

This study was conducted to classify forest cover types using the multivariate statistical analysis in the natural forest of western Mt. Jiri. On the basis of the vegetation data by point quarter sampling, the adopted analytical methods were species-area curve (SAC), hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), indicator species analysis (ISA), and multiple discriminant analysis (MDA). SAC selected the outlier tree species which was likely to have no influence on the classification of forest cover types, excluded from all analytical process. Based on forest vegetative information, HCA classified the study area into 2 to 10 clusters and ISA indicated that the optimal number of clusters were seven. MDA was taken to test the clusters that classified with HCA and ISA. The seven clusters were classified appropriately as overall classification success were 91.3%. The classified forest cover types were named by the ratio of the dominant species in the upper layer of each cluster. They were (1) Quercus mongolica Pure forest, (2) Mixed mesophytic forest, (3) Q. mongolica - Q. serrata forest, (4) Abies koreana - Q. mongolica forest, (5) Fraxinus mandshurica forest, (6) Q. serrata forest, and (7) Carpinus laxiflora forest.