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Insights into Riverscape Dynamics with the Hydrological, Ecological and Social Dimensions for Water Sustenance


Affiliations
1 Energy and Wetland Research Group, Centre for Ecological Science, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP), Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India
2 RCG School of Infrastructure Design and Management, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. Kharagpur 721 302, India
 

Spatio-temporal patterns of four neighbouring river-scapes in the central Western Ghats, India through land-use analyses using temporal remote sensing data (1973, 2018), reveal a decline in evergreen forests (41%) and fragmentation of intact or contiguous forests (60%). Hydro-ecological footprint illustrates that catchment integrity plays a decisive role in sustaining water for societal and ecological needs. This is evident from the occurrence of perennial streams in the catchment dominated by native flora with forest cover greater than 60%, highlighting the riverscape dynamics with hydrological, ecological, social and environmental dimension linkages and water sustainability. This helps in evolving strategies to adopt integrated watershed management to sustain anthropogenic and environmental water demand.

Keywords

Biodiversity, Eco-hydrological Footprint, Land Use, Lotic Ecosystems, Water Quality.
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  • Insights into Riverscape Dynamics with the Hydrological, Ecological and Social Dimensions for Water Sustenance

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Authors

T. V. Ramachandra
Energy and Wetland Research Group, Centre for Ecological Science, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP), Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India
S. Vinay
Energy and Wetland Research Group, Centre for Ecological Science, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP), Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India
S. Bharath
Energy and Wetland Research Group, Centre for Ecological Science, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP), Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India
M. D. Subash Chandran
Energy and Wetland Research Group, Centre for Ecological Science, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP), Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India
Bharath H. Aithal
RCG School of Infrastructure Design and Management, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. Kharagpur 721 302, India

Abstract


Spatio-temporal patterns of four neighbouring river-scapes in the central Western Ghats, India through land-use analyses using temporal remote sensing data (1973, 2018), reveal a decline in evergreen forests (41%) and fragmentation of intact or contiguous forests (60%). Hydro-ecological footprint illustrates that catchment integrity plays a decisive role in sustaining water for societal and ecological needs. This is evident from the occurrence of perennial streams in the catchment dominated by native flora with forest cover greater than 60%, highlighting the riverscape dynamics with hydrological, ecological, social and environmental dimension linkages and water sustainability. This helps in evolving strategies to adopt integrated watershed management to sustain anthropogenic and environmental water demand.

Keywords


Biodiversity, Eco-hydrological Footprint, Land Use, Lotic Ecosystems, Water Quality.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv118%2Fi9%2F1379-1393