Zonation of spatial variation of density, canopy cover and production parameters of Artemisia fragrans using spatial statistic in southeast faced slopes of Sablan

This study was aimed to determine the feasibility of spatial statisticsin studying the spatial variations of density, canopy cover, and production for Artemisia fragrans in the southeast slopes of Sabalan. Initially, the normality test was conducted using SPSS16 software. Then, spatial statistical analysis including studying the spatial variability of density, canopy cover, and production of the studied species were conducted through the variograms of data and mapping the parameters using different interpolation and spatial statistical methods in the GS and ArcGIS10 software. The accuracy assessment of maps was done using cross validation and three methods including: Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), Mean Bias Error (MBE), and Mean Absolute Error (MAE). Results showed that the exponential model was the best-fitted variogram model and the data had high spatial structure. Among spatial statisticalmethods, the ordinary and universal co-kiriging were the best methods for the three parameters studied. According to the maps produced from these methods, A. fragrans is mostly distributed on the central and northeast parts and in low altitudes. Overall, spatial statistical techniques could be applied to zone the perennial key species of rangelands with proper sampling units.