Local influence water availability and solar radiation on the productivity of a Eucalyptus forest

• Grant number: 14/12448-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2014
• End date: July 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Forestry Resources and Forestry Engineering - Forestry
• Principal Investigator: Silvio Frosini de Barros Ferraz
• Grantee: Nathalia da Mota Passo Vicente Ribeiro
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The availability of water in a soil is a primary factor in determining the growth of a forest. The use of water by the plant is controlled by factors that can influence the productivity of an area, which range soil moisture until processes occurring in the soil-plant-atmosphere system, for example the solar radiation (SACRAMENTO NETO 2001). To analyze these characteristics of soil, it is important obtaining accurate information from the surface of an area by remote sensing techniques, emphasing the ALS (Airborne Laser Scanning), which reconstructs objects on the Earth's surface (Alves, 2010). Therefore, this study will analyze the relation between local variables of water availability and solar radiation, and the productivity of a Eucalyptus forest.The study area includes 26 plots of one clone of a farm Company Fibria Celulose S / A, located in the county of São Luiz do Paratinga, situated in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The techniques of Geographic Information System (GIS) will be analyzed as the relief attributes influence the productivity of a forest through physical terrain variables (altitude, slope, hillshade, aspect, topographic índex and potential evapotranspiration) and Forest productivity. The results of these studies will be done through a multiple regression analysis, and the comparison between the two digital terrain models will be done through the averages test between the variables obtained by the models.