Life Sciences Commons^™

Distribution Of Eastern Hemlock, Tsuga Canadensis, In Eastern Kentucky And The Susceptibility To Invasion By The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, Adelges Tsugae, Joshua Taylor Clark

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

The hemlock woolly adelgid, an invasive non-native insect, is threatening eastern hemlock in Kentucky. This study examined three techniques to map the distribution of eastern hemlock using decision trees, remote sensing, and species distribution modeling. Accuracy assessments showed that eastern hemlock was best modeled using a decision tree without incorporating satellite radiance. Using the distribution from the optimal model, risk maps for susceptibility to hemlock woolly adelgid infestation were created using two species distribution models. Environmental variables related to dispersal were used to build the models and their contributions to the models assessed. The models showed similar spatial distributions of …