Date of Graduation
Spring 2021
Degree
Master of Science in Plant Science (Agriculture)
Department
College of Agriculture
Committee Chair
Michael Goerndt
Abstract
The Missouri Ozarks are well known for high production in both timber products and cattle production. Most areas are also not well suited for many other agricultural practices such as row cropping, so forests and grazing lands dominate the landscapes. Such characteristics provide high potential for the agroforestry practice known as silvopasture. This study monitors the establishment of two different types of silvopasture systems, plantation and conversion types. In the plantation silvopasture, two cultivars of black walnut (Juglans nigra) were planted, Football and Kwikrop. Health and growth were monitored for those cultivars over the first year. The converted silvopasture consisted of a manually thinned upland forest area containing many different oak (Quercus) species as well as a few other hardwood species such as hickory (Carya) and ash (Fraxinus). The converted stand was monitored using an unmanned aerial system (UAS) equipped with a multispectral sensor. The multispectral imaging was used to create canopy height models as well as build models predicting seasonal climate stress variables such as leaf water potential and leaf chlorophyll content of the trees within the converted silvopasture system. The final seasonal climate stress models displayed relatively high prediction potential for important seasonal climate stress variables using remote-sensed data for different forest ecosystems in the Missouri Ozarks region.
Keywords
agroforestry, silvopasture, Ozarks, UAS, black walnut, hardwood
Subject Categories
Agricultural Science | Forest Management
Copyright
© Stewart James McCollum
Recommended Citation
McCollum, Stewart James, "Modeling the Growth and Establishment of Plantation and Converted Silvopasture Systems in the Missouri Ozarks Region" (2021). MSU Graduate Theses. 3607.
https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/3607
