In MarcoPittarello/ResNatSeed: A tool for the assessment of the REStoration potential of NATive SEEDs based on topographic factors

knitr::opts_chunk$set(
  collapse = TRUE,
  comment = "#>"
)

library(ResNatSeed)

When the training database is the default one (i.e. based on vegetation surveys from the Piedmont Region - North-Western Italy), it is first necessary to provide the species list of a single seed mixture or donor grassland and their abundance. Species of the default training database are 258. The species names follow the Flora Alpina nomenclature [@aeschimann2004] and they are associated with the 'cep.names' code. This is an eight-letter abbreviation of species names according to the Cornell Ecology Programs (CEP). The seed mixture or donor grassland composition must follow the CEP name codes listed in data("cep.piem"):

data("cep.piem")

head(cep.piem)

The seed mixture or donor grassland composition must be a dataframe with two columns:

• First column: species code abbreviated in CEP names format
• Second column: abundance of each species. Abundance must be a number bounded between 0 and 100, which can be either a species relative abundance or a species cover (sensu [@pittarello2016]; [@verdinelli2022]).

In this example, the donor grassland composition is characterized by five species:

• Bromus erectus (CEP name: Bromere), relative abundance: 25%
• Brachypodium rupestre (CEP name: Bracrupe), relative abundance: 18%
• Festuca ovina aggr. (CEP name: Festaggr), relative abundance: 22%
• Knautia arvensis (CEP name: Knauarve), relative abundance: 8%
• Silene vulgaris (CEP name: Silevulg), relative abundance: 5%

Total abundances amount to 78%. The total abundance of the seed mixture or donor grassland composition should not necessarily amount 100%.

We can generate the dataframe of the donor grassland composition:

donor.composition<-data.frame(
  species=c("Bromere","Bracrupe","Festaggr","Knauarve","Silevulg"),
  abundance=c(25,18,22,8,5)
)

donor.composition

It is now possible to use the RestInd function to calculate the Suitability Index (SI) and Reliability Index (RI) by means of the donor grassland composition (dataframe 'donor.composition') and of the elevation, slope, and aspect of restoration site:

• elevation: 2300 m a.s.l
• slope: 15°
• aspect: 135° N

RestInd(trainingDB = NULL, 
        composition=donor.composition,  
        elevation=2300, 
        slope=15, 
        aspect=135
        )

References

MarcoPittarello/ResNatSeed documentation built on April 14, 2023, 8:53 p.m.