Quantitative evaluation of forest favourability using GIS database in a hill area in the Transylvania Depression, Romania

Many studies highlight the benefic influence of forests on the quality of environment. There is an interest for identifying the pretability of a certain territory for representative forest tree species according to their pedological, hydro-climatic and geomorphological characteristics. The main purpose of this endeavour is the enhancement of a territory's economic quality as well as the highlighting of the forest's stabilizing role which is determined by new forest plantations with well-defined purposes. This study aims at proposing a quantitative model based on correlation equations between forest favourability classes and ecological factors/determiners for the main forest species from the hill bioclimatic zone. By using geographic information system (GIS) spatial analysis and integrating a specific digital database, forest favourability classes were identified for eight of the most common forest species from Someşul Mare Hills: pedunculate oak, Turkey oak, Hungarian oak, hornbeam, linden, sycamore tree, cherry tree and beech. The main focus was laid on developing and obtaining the necessary digital database for the GIS spatial analysis model and on the work stages of creating a GIS model which could be implemented in areas with similar characteristics