Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Quantification and Monitoring of Forest Cover Changes in Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve, Western Ghats, India (1920-2012)


Affiliations
1 Forestry and Ecology Group, National Remote Sensing Centre, ISRO, Balanagar, Hyderabad 500 037, India
2 G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora 263 643, India
 

Protected areas need to be monitored regularly to realize the effectiveness of conservation measures. In this study, Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve of Western Ghats has been monitored for deforestation in a historic time frame. The study attempted to identify the changes that occurred within the Biosphere Reserve from the early 1920s to the recent by mapping the land use/land cover and quantifying the forest cover changes that have occurred in the Biosphere Reserve individually for each conservation zone and protected area. Multi-temporal satellite datasets and topographical maps were used for mapping the forest cover of the study area. Visual interpretation technique involving on screen digitization was used for mapping and post-classification comparison method was used for carrying out change detection process. In addition, grid wise spatial tracking was carried out for the periods of 1920-1973 and 1973-2012 to prioritize change areas. Results showed that 747.1 km2 of forests have been lost during the period of 1920-2012. The present study demonstrates the importance of long-term land use/land cover information to examine conservation effectiveness by utilizing remote sensing and GIS techniques to carry out best management practices.

Keywords

Conservation, Deforestation, Land Use/Land Cover, Long-Term Study, Protected Area.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Lambin, E. F., Geist, H. J. and Lepers, E., Dynamics of land-use and land-cover change in tropical regions. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour., 2003, 28, 205–241.

  • Geist, H. J. and Lambin, E. F., What drives tropical deforestation? a meta-analysis of proximate and underlying causes of deforestation based on subnational case study evidence. LUCC Rep. Ser., 2001, 4, 116.

  • Kadiogullari, A. I., Sayin, M. A., Celįk, D. A., Borucu, S., Cil, B. and Bulut, S., Analysing land cover changes for understanding of forest dynamics using temporal forest management plans. Environ. Monit. Assess., 2014, 186, 2089–2110.

  • Parrish, J. D., Braun, D. P. and Unnasch, R. S., Are we conserving what we say we are? Measuring ecological integrity within protected areas. BioScience, 2003, 53, 851–860.

  • Das, A., Krishnaswamy, J., Bawa, K. S., Kiran, M. C., Srinivas, V., Kumar, N. and Karanth, K. U., Prioritisation of conservation areas in the Western Ghats, India. Biol. Conserv., 2006, 133, 16– 31.

  • Huxel, G. R. and Hastings, A., Habitat loss, fragmentation and restoration. Restor. Ecol., 1999, 7, 309–315.

  • Lovett, G. M. et al., Who needs environmental monitoring? Front. Ecol. Environ., 2007, 5, 253–260.

  • Levine, C. R., Yanai, R. D., Lampman, G. G., Burns, D. A., Driscoll, C. T., Lawrence, G. B. and Schoch, N., Evaluating the efficiency of environmental monitoring programs. Ecol. Indic., 2014, 39, 94–101.

  • Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. State of the World’s Forests, FAO, Rome, 2010.

  • Foster, D. R. and Forest, H., Land-use history (1730–1990) and vegetation dynamics in central New England, USA. J. Ecol., 1992, 80, 753–771.

  • Stibig, H. J., Achard, F., Carboni, S., Rasi, R. and Miettinen, J., Change in tropical forest cover of Southeast Asia from 1990 to 2010. Biogeosci. Discuss., 2013, 10, 12625–12653.

  • Snoo, G. R., Naus, N., Verhulst, J., Ruijven, J. and Schaffers, A. P., Long-term changes in plant diversity of grasslands under agricultural and conservation management. Appl. Veg. Sci., 2012, 15, 299–306.

  • Townshend, J., Hansen, M., Sohlberg, R., Defries, R. and Schleeweis, K., Towards a community protocol for validating global climate data records representing sub-pixel land cover components and changes through time using AVHRR, MODIS and VIIRS. InAGU Fall Meeting Abstr., 2005, 1, 8.

  • Chape, S., Harrison, J., Spalding, M. and Lysenko, I., Measuring the extent and effectiveness of protected areas as an indicator for meeting global biodiversity targets. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B, 2005, 360, 443–455.

  • Wang, Y., Mitchell, B. R., Marzilli, J. N., Bonynge, G., Zhou, Y. and Shriver, G., Remote sensing of land-cover change and landscape context of the National Parks: A case study of the Northeast Temperate Network. Remote. Sens. Environ., 2009, 113, 1453–1461.

  • Huang, X. and Friedl, M. A., Distance metric-based forest cover change detection using MODIS time series. Int. J. Appl. Earth. Obs. Geoinf., 2014, 29, 78–92.

  • Kennedy, R. E., Townsend, P. A., Gross, J. E., Cohen, W. B., Bolstad, P., Wang, Y. Q. and Adams, P., Remote sensing change detection tools for natural resource managers: understanding concepts and tradeoffs in the design of landscape monitoring projects. Remote. Sens. Environ., 2009, 113, 1382–1396.

  • Wiens, J. et al., Selecting and conserving lands for biodiversity: the role of remote sensing. Remote Sens. Environ., 2009, 113, 1370–1381.

  • Ramesh, B. R., Menon, S. and Bawa, K. S., A vegetation-based approach to biodiversity gap analysis in the Agastyamalai region, Western Ghats, India. Ambio, 1997, 26, 529–536.

  • Reddy, C. S., Jha, C. S. and Dadhwal, V. K., Assessment and monitoring of long-term forest cover changes in Odisha, India using remote sensing and GIS. Environ. Monit. Assess., 2013, 185, 4399–4415.

  • Satish, K. V., Saranya, K. R. L., Reddy, C. S., Krishna, P. H., Jha, C. S. and Rao, P. P., Geospatial assessment and monitoring of historical forest cover changes (1920–2012) in Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Western Ghats, India. Environ. Monit. Assess., 2014, 186, 8125–8140.

  • Hari Krishna, P., Saranya, K. R. L., Reddy, C. S., Jha, C. S. and Dadhwal, V. K., Assessment and monitoring of deforestation from 1930 to 2011 in Andhra Pradesh, India using remote sensing and collateral data. Curr. Sci., 2014, 107, 867–875.

  • Menon, S. and Bawa, K. S., Applications of geographic information systems, remote-sensing, and a landscape ecology approach to biodiversity conservation in the Western Ghats. Curr. Sci., 1997, 73, 134–145.

  • Jha, C. S., Dutt, C. B. S. and Bawa, K. S., Deforestation and land use changes in Western Ghats, India. Curr. Sci., 2000, 79, 231– 238.

  • Sheeja, R. V., Joseph, S., Jaya, D. S. and Baiju, R. S., Land use and land cover changes over a century (1914–2007) in the Neyyar River Basin, Kerala: a remote sensing and GIS approach. Int. J. Digital. Earth., 2011, 4, 258–270.

  • Palni, L. M. S., Rawal, R. S., Rai, R. K. and Reddy, S. V., Compendium on Indian biosphere reserves – progression during two decades of conservation, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, New Delhi and G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment & Development, Uttarakhand, 2012.

  • Ministry of Environment and Forests, Protection, development, maintenance and research in biosphere reserves in India, Guidelines and Performance, MOEF, Government of India, New Delhi, 2007.

  • Pascal, J. P., Bioclimates of the Western Ghats at 11,250,000 (2 sheets), French Institute, Pondicherry, India, 1982.

  • Henry, A. N., Chandrabose, M., Swaminathan, M. S. and Nair, N. C., Agasthyamalai and its environs: a potential area for Biosphere Reserve. J. Bombay. Nat. Hist. Soc., 1984, 81, 282–290.

  • MacKinnon, J. and MacKinnon, K., Review of the protected areas system in the Indo-Malayan realm. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, 1986.

  • Collins, N. M., Sayer, J. A. and Whitmore, T. C., The Conservation Atlas of Tropical Forests: Asia and the Pacific, MacMillan Press, London, 1991.

  • Ramesh, B. R. and Pascal, J. P., Distribution of endemic, arborescent evergreen species in the Western Ghats. In Proceedings of the symposium on rare endangered and endemic plants of the Western Ghats, Kerala Forest Department, Trivandrum, 30–31 August 1991, pp. 20–29.

  • http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu (accessed on 10 January 2013).

  • http://sunsite/berkeley.edu/EART/India/250k (accessed on 10 June 2013).

  • http://indiabiodiversity.org (accessed on 8 February 2013)

  • Jensen, J. R., Introductory Digital Image Processing – A Remote Sensing Perspective, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 2nd edn, 1996.

  • http://www.cbd.int/forest/definitions.shtml (accessed on 20 March 2014).

  • Puyravaud, J. P., Standardizing the calculation of the annual rate of deforestation. For. Ecol. Manage., 2003, 177, 593–596.

  • Champion, H. G. and Seth, S. K., A Revised Survey of the Forest Types of India, Manager of Publications, Government of India, 1968, p. 404.

  • Reddy, C. S., Dutta, K. and Jha, C. S., Analysing the gross and net deforestation rates in India. Curr. Sci., 2013, 105, 1492–1500.

  • Chandran, M. S., On the ecological history of the Western Ghats. Curr. Sci., 1997, 73, 146–155.

  • George, P. S. and Chattopadhyay, S., Population and land use in Kerala, growing populations, changing landscapes: studies from India, China and the United States. Nat. Acad. Sci., 2001, 1, 79– 106.

  • Ramesh, B. R., Seen, D. L., Karunakaran, P. V., Balasubramanian, M. and Sankar, M., Conservation review for rationalization of protected area network in Kerala. Final report of the consultancy under the Kerala Forestry project funded by the World Bank, French Institute of Pondicherry, Pondicherry, 2003, p. 112.

  • http://www.irrigation.kerala.gov.in (accessed on 1 September 2014).

  • Richardson, D. M., Pysek, P., Rejmanek, M., Barbour, M. G., Panetta, F. D. and West, C. J., Naturalization and invasion of alien plants: concepts and definitions. Divers. Distrib., 2000, 6, 93–107.


Abstract Views: 455

PDF Views: 194




  • Quantification and Monitoring of Forest Cover Changes in Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve, Western Ghats, India (1920-2012)

Abstract Views: 455  |  PDF Views: 194

Authors

Kalloli Dutta
Forestry and Ecology Group, National Remote Sensing Centre, ISRO, Balanagar, Hyderabad 500 037, India
C. Sudhakar Reddy
Forestry and Ecology Group, National Remote Sensing Centre, ISRO, Balanagar, Hyderabad 500 037, India
Subrat Sharma
G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora 263 643, India
C. S. Jha
Forestry and Ecology Group, National Remote Sensing Centre, ISRO, Balanagar, Hyderabad 500 037, India

Abstract


Protected areas need to be monitored regularly to realize the effectiveness of conservation measures. In this study, Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve of Western Ghats has been monitored for deforestation in a historic time frame. The study attempted to identify the changes that occurred within the Biosphere Reserve from the early 1920s to the recent by mapping the land use/land cover and quantifying the forest cover changes that have occurred in the Biosphere Reserve individually for each conservation zone and protected area. Multi-temporal satellite datasets and topographical maps were used for mapping the forest cover of the study area. Visual interpretation technique involving on screen digitization was used for mapping and post-classification comparison method was used for carrying out change detection process. In addition, grid wise spatial tracking was carried out for the periods of 1920-1973 and 1973-2012 to prioritize change areas. Results showed that 747.1 km2 of forests have been lost during the period of 1920-2012. The present study demonstrates the importance of long-term land use/land cover information to examine conservation effectiveness by utilizing remote sensing and GIS techniques to carry out best management practices.

Keywords


Conservation, Deforestation, Land Use/Land Cover, Long-Term Study, Protected Area.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv110%2Fi4%2F508-520