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Track: Agriculture
Nathan Marx
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-2126
Telephone: 409-847-9367
Fax: 409-845-6430
E-mail: nmarx@rasc-sparc.tamu.edu
Jerry Stuth, Dan Schmitt
Using Integrated GIS Based Models to Predict Forage Production and Hydrology on Rangelands
Defining Issue: To predict temporal and spatial variability of forage production and water runoff across broad landscapes under varying grazing pressure from multiple herbivore species using historical weather data. GIS Solution: The Ranching Systems Group at Texas A&M University developed the PHYGROW Forage Production/Hydrology Model to assist rangeland resource managers in making land use decisions regarding carrying capacity, grazing systems, drought planning, erosion control, and vegetation manipulation for increasing water yields. Methodology: PHYGROW is designed to predict plant growth and water balance in multiple species plant communities under varying grazing pressure from multiple herbivore species and under varying weather conditions. The model is capable of importing gridded ArcInfo coverages for soil mapping, plant community mapping, and topography. The model is capable of daily time step GIS output for grazing demand, water routing, forage production, and standing crop disturbances. The
purpose of this paper is to outline the development and calibration of this model and to highlight the problems and successes of GIS integration.
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