Search Results
Urban landscape ecology is a new interest that crosses several disciplines: botany, forestry, horticulture, sociology and land use planning. University forest environs are often the most degraded; foot traffic, development and a shortage of funds for significant tree plantings are main culprits. SFASU lies in the pineywoods region of east Texas and is known as the “university among the pines.” The campus is blessed with many patriarch pines and hardwoods. Computer-assisted drafting (CAP) and Geographic Information Systems(GIS) platforms are being utilized to map the campus vegetation. A 1992 vegetative analysis, when compared to similar studies in 1971 and 1983, indicates a loss in species diversity and frequency with little change in basal area. AutoCad*, LandCadd*, and Studio-3D* are being integrated into a multi-disciplinary project to develop a three-dimensional biotic/abiotic model of the campus. That model will be used as a “fly-through” visualization tool to develop forest conservation strategies most likely to succeed in a sustainable fashion.