Vegetation characteristics of southern secondary moist mixed deciduous forest of Trichur district... more Vegetation characteristics of southern secondary moist mixed deciduous forest of Trichur district of Kerala were assessed by random sampling through census quadrat method. Twenty plots (0.1ha.) were taken from Chalakudy, Chimmony, Peechi and Vazhani regions; 0.5 ha. area was sampled from each locality totalling 2 ha. A total of 2919 individuals belonging to 208 species and spreading over 89 families were recorded from the 20 ha area studied. This consists of 81 (38.94 %) tree species, 21(10.10%) shrubs, 58 (27.88 %) herbs and 48 (23.08 %) climbers. In terms of number of species per unit area, an average of 34 species were occurred per quadrate (0.1ha.). For trees, shrubs herbs, climbers this values were 16, 5, 6, 7 respectively. The dominant association of the study area is Xylia xylocarpa, Lagerstroemia microcarpa, Grewia tilliaefolia and Terminalia paniculata. Comparatively high species diversity index value is registered for trees, but very low in shrubs.
Ardeotis nigriceps, commonly known as Great Indian Bustard (GIB), is a Critically Endangered, Evo... more Ardeotis nigriceps, commonly known as Great Indian Bustard (GIB), is a Critically Endangered, Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Threatened (EDGE) and endemic species to the Indian subcontinent. GIB is under tremendous threat in its last strongholds and sliding inextricably towards extinction. The GIB sanctuary in Maharashtra (India) is one of the last refuges of the bird constituting an area of 8496 km2 spread over in seven talukas of Solapur and Ahemednagar districts. Major portion of the sanctuary (94.3 %) consists of privately owned lands under a variety of economic vocations and large number of villages and townships. In view of the legal restrictions relating to Protected Area under the Wildlife (Protection) Act of India 1972, the inhabitants of villages and townships faced a very difficult situation regarding use of their lands, development of properties and deriving benefits from planned local and regional development. This created conflict between local people and the forest department over the use of land, which necessitated the rationalization of the sanctuary. The objective of the present study was to map the suitable habitat of GIB in GIB Wildlife Sanctuary as an input for the realignment of the GIB Sanctuary by identifying areas that are important for the GIB. Main parameters considered for the habitat suitability assessments are, habit and habitat of GIB, slope, minimum patch size and disturbance sources. Based on the criteria derived for the ecological and biological requirements of GIB, binary deductive habitat suitability modeling has been done using remote sensing and GIS and prioritized the potential habitats of GIB. The net area of important suitable habitat of GIB in GIB sanctuary is 2304.99 km2 out of 8496.44 km2. The output of the present study has been used as an input by the committee (set by Honorable Supreme court of India) on rationalization of the GIB Sanctuary and the sanctuary has been rationalized with an area of 1222 km2.
One of the most complex problems facing in tropical forests, particularly the deciduous forests, ... more One of the most complex problems facing in tropical forests, particularly the deciduous forests, is the recurrent incidence of fire. It is well known that fire causes extensive damage in the forest ecosystem by quantitatively as well as qualitatively. In India 75 % of the total forest cover are coming under highly fire prone forest types like moist deciduous, dry deciduous and thorn forests. The main objectives of the present study are to characterise the physical aspects of fire in the moist deciduous forest, to study the changes brought about by fire on vegetation and their regeneration and to explore the feasibility of silvicultural techniques such as stump planting to improve upon fire survival of tree seedlings. The study area is located in the moist deciduous forest of Thrissur forest division, Kerala State, India. Impacts of fire on forests mainly depend on the intensity and periodicity of fire. Hence, to study fire ecological aspects, twelve 0.25ha (50m x 50m) plots were established for different burning treatments, viz. early-burn, late-burn, one year and two year fire frequencies and control, with three replications. Regenerating elements of tree species (1-10cm dbh), shrubs (with height above 50cm and dbh below 1cm) and herbs (below 50cm height) were identified, tagged and enumerated in all plots before and after prescribed burning and compared with the control (no burn) plots. It is observed that once the fuel quantity and fuel moisture content cross a certain limit which is sufficient for occurrence of fire, further change in fire behaviour is controlled by fuel porosity and fuel continuity. Other factors which control the rate of fire spread are size and thickness of leaves, rate of decomposition, soil moisture regime, wind and presence of grasses. The paper elucidates the different aspects of this experiment The results indicate that impact of fire is more in lower diameter classes (1-2.5cm dbh and 2.6-5cm dbh), whereas regeneration above 5cm dbh is less effected. Among the different moist deciduous tree species, thick bark species such as Gmelina arborea and Pterocarpus marsupium were found to be more resistant to fire. Paper concludes on the possible impact of fire on the status of moist deciduous forests in this part of India.
The diversity indices commonly used are based on the assumption that biological diversity can be ... more The diversity indices commonly used are based on the assumption that biological diversity can be satisfactorily described by two major components viz.; the number of species and their relative abundance. These indices treat all species as equivalent and ignore taxonomic or genetic differences among species of a community. However, two biological communities with similar numbers and frequencies of species could differ, for instance, with respect to the taxonomic diversity of the constituent species. In the present study Pielou's (1975) Hierarchical Diversity Index is used to get three taxonomic levels of diversity (family, species and genus). Quadrats of 0.1 ha. were laid out in different forest types in the present study totaling 21 quadrats comprising 2.1 ha. A total of 151 tree species spread over 52 families were recorded out of 9 forest types.
This article explores the potential of forestry practices to mitigate climate change. Forest not ... more This article explores the potential of forestry practices to mitigate climate change. Forest not only sustains its own carbon but also has the potential to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Reduction of photosynthesizing biomass through indiscriminate deforestation constitutes damage to the self-regulating mechanism that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere combustion. In the present study the biomass densities and carbon stocks of natural tropical forest of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve forest (TATR), Chandrapur, Maharashtra, India was estimated using standard carbon inventory methods. Present methodologies used to obtain carbon stock estimates for large forest areas are mostly based on forest inventory information as well as various factors, such as biomass equations, which transform diameter, height or volume data into biomass estimates. Tectona grandis showed the highest tree diameter of 26cm and average height of 19.85m while the lowest tree diameter and height of 10.35cm and 8.25m was shown by Ziziphus glaberrima, respectively. In addition, the total above and below ground biomass of the trees in the natural forest of TATR were observed to be 178.09 Mg/ha and 46.30 Mg/ha respectively. The carbon stock accumulated in vegetation was found to be 112.19 MgC/ha. in trees depends not only on climatic conditions but also on their growth and age. However, the estimation of net carbon uptake and storage by the forest ecosystem is very complex due to various factors that influence growth of trees and respiration of CO 2 .This study helps to understand the present status of carbon stored and sequestered in tropical dry forest ecosystem.
The multiplicity of forest products and their uses, and the conflicts it may cause among the stak... more The multiplicity of forest products and their uses, and the conflicts it may cause among the stakeholders and its long gestation period makes forestry planning to be considerably complex. Information need in forestry basically involve characterizing the location, area, and status of the forest resources / wildlife and the change in spatial and time domain. These information needs are not met entirely by traditional techniques because those were not practical or economically sound to devote more effort to human intensive menstruation activities. Indian forests are managed through the working / management plans, which are revised once in 10 years. Working plans are mainly oriented towards the production forestry and implemented in forest divisions, whereas management plans are focused on protection forestry and applicable to protected areas like National Parks, Tiger Reserves and wildlife sanctuaries. The forest management / working plans require timely and accurate geospatial information about forest condition, wildlife status and management practices at site specific and regional scales. Geospatial technologies, such as remote sensing, Geographical Information System (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS) provides vital support to collect, analyze and store all sort of geospatial information ((Rao et al., 2006). Though commercial packages facilities to customize the above modules in their own environment, exorbitant cost of such an approach becomes a limiting factor for providing the utilities to a large number of users. To tackle this problem two-standalone packages, Forest Management Information System (FMIS) and Protected Area Management Information System (PAMIS), have been developed by customizing the packages on low cost third party libraries, which can cover all the functionality envisaged in the system. FMIS is information and decision support system for working plan department and PAMIS is for protected areas like National parks, wildlife sanctuaries and tiger reserves. These information systems incorporate the functionality to view, query and analyse the data as per the requirements of users. Further, report generation utilities for providing inputs to management plan as per the need and convenience of the user department is developed and integrated into the system. This will enable any time anywhere availability of data, analysis and visualization system at the different hierarchy of the forest department.
Forest type of any given area is a manifestation of total ecological set up of that area. For pre... more Forest type of any given area is a manifestation of total ecological set up of that area. For preparing a blueprint for conservation of biota, one of the essential steps is cataloguing all identifiable ecosystems occurring within the region. Since the plant communities being primary producers reflect the basic characteristics of the physical environment and also in turn decide the identity of the consumers viz. the animals. The forest types of Kerala show highly heterogeneous nature and it is very difficult to stratify them at microlevel. The pictorial elements show overlapping pattern. In all the earlier studies in this area a broad categorisation of forest types like, evergreen, moist deciduous etc. alone have been done (Suraj et al., 1997 and Menon, 1993). In the present study the forest type classification of Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary was done using 1 : 15,000 black and white aerial photographs by Visual interpretation techniques. Microlevel stratification of forest types were achieved. West coast tropical evergreen forest and Hilltop evergreen forest were separately delineated in the wet evergreen forest. The phenological stages of forest were taken into account for achieving vegetation type classification. Systematic sample points were checked on the ground to evaluate the classification accuracy and it was found to be 95% accurate.
Detailed phytosociological analysis of Agasthyamalai region of Western Ghats has so far not been ... more Detailed phytosociological analysis of Agasthyamalai region of Western Ghats has so far not been carried out. This study is a pioneer attempt in this direction. Structure, composition, dynamics and diversity of the wet evergreen forest of the Agasthyamalai region of the southern Western Ghats were assessed using stratified random sampling by the census quadrat method. 0.1 ha plots were laid out in four localities of Agasthyamalai. From the quadrat data gathered primary and secondary analysis of the vegetation were done. A total of 435 individuals belonging to 79 species and spreading over 37 families was recorded. High stand density (1087.5 trees/ha), species density (79 species in 0.4 ha), medium basal area (64.09 m2/ha), low maturity (22.39%), low similarity between stands (<50.76%), the 'L' shaped curve of different dbh classes, medium diversity (3.143, Shannon's index value), high species richness (7.07, Margalef's index value) and low species evenness (0.89, Pielou's index value) were observed. On the basis of dominance and association, this forest type is identified as Mesua-Cullenia-Dimocarpus type and Clusiaceae, Myrtaceae and Lauraceae were the most important families.
The inventory and monitoring of forest resources have become increasingly important in recent yea... more The inventory and monitoring of forest resources have become increasingly important in recent years, and the process has been accelerated with the introduction of photointerpretation techniques in the forestry sector. Because of the different bioclimatic and geographical conditions prevailing in the Western Ghats of India, the vegetation exhibits a highly heterogeneous nature and it is very difficult to distinguish the forest types. Very little work has been done in the field of cover type classification of the Western Ghat region of Kerala using remote sensing techniques. A broad classification of the forest types in the region (evergreen, moist deciduous, dry deciduous, etc.) was adopted in earlier works on the region. In this paper an interpretation key is developed and presented for the identification of forest/land cover types from 1: 15 000 black and white aerial photographs taken in January-March 1988-90. Photographs were analysed for the southern moist mixed deciduous
A seamless vegetation type map of India (scale 1: 50,000) prepared using medium-resolution IRS LI... more A seamless vegetation type map of India (scale 1: 50,000) prepared using medium-resolution IRS LISS-III images is presented. The map was created using an on-screen visual interpretation technique and has an accuracy of 90%, as assessed using 15,565 ground control points. India has hitherto been using potential vegetation/forest type map prepared by Champion and Seth in 1968. We characterized and mapped further the vegetation type distribution in the country in terms of occurrence and distribution, area occupancy, percentage of protected area (PA) covered by each vegetation type, range of elevation, mean annual temperature and precipitation over the past 100 years. A remote sensing-amenable hierarchical classification scheme that accommodates natural and semi-natural systems was conceptualized, and the natural vegetation was classified into forests, scrub/shrub lands and grasslands on the basis of extent of vegetation cover. We discuss the distribution and potential utility of the vegetation type map in a broad range of ecological, climatic and conservation applications from global, national and local perspectives. We used 15,565 ground control points to assess the accuracy of products available globally (i.e., GlobCover, Holdridge’s life zone map and potential natural vegetation (PNV) maps). Hence we recommend that the map prepared herein be used widely. This vegetation type map is the most comprehensive one developed for India so far. It was prepared using 23.5 m seasonal satellite remote sensing data, field samples and information relating to the biogeography, climate and soil. The digital map is now available through a web portal (http://bis.iirs.gov.in).
The moist deciduous forest occupies nearly about half the total forest area of Kerala. For most o... more The moist deciduous forest occupies nearly about half the total forest area of Kerala. For most of the timber and non-wood forest produce, people of Kerala depend on these forests. Due to edaphic and climatic variations they exhibit much variation in qualitative and quantitative aspects. This forest is in the process of degradation due to various anthropogenic activities. An attempt is made in this paper to evaluate the variability in structure and composition in representative moist deciduous forest of Kerala with respect to species diversity, dominance, association, community similarity, successional status, girth class distribution, important value index, etc. by stratified random sampling from southern, central and northern parts of Kerala
Inventorying, understanding the level, distribution and dynamics of biodiversity have considerabl... more Inventorying, understanding the level, distribution and dynamics of biodiversity have considerable significance in long-term health and vigour of the biosphere. The diversity indices commonly used are based on the assumption that biological diversity can be satisfactorily described by two major components viz: the number of species and their relative abundance. In order to understand the complexities and 'niche' characteristics of community, or a landscape, or a geographic area the ecological level of diversity has considerable significance. The ecosystem and ecological levels of diversity of tree species of Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary was assessed following Whittaker (1977) . Tah samplings were done by stratified sampling method using quadrats. A total of 151 tree species spread over 52 families were recorded out of nine forest types
Land cover maps depicting various vegetation cover classes are highly necessary for sanctuary ma... more Land cover maps depicting various vegetation cover classes are highly necessary for sanctuary management. Remote Sensing Data utilization for cover type mapping is one of the most cost effective method for vegetation mapping, especially in tropics. Here an attempt is made to map the forest vegetation of Chimmony Wildlife Sanctuary using aerial photographs (Black & White 1:15,000) and Landsat TM FCC (1:50,000) using the standard visual interpretation techniques.
Identification of bamboo growing area and the stock estimation is of great significance in forest... more Identification of bamboo growing area and the stock estimation is of great significance in forest resource planning. The area estimation of bamboo in the tropical forest system is very difficult, since the bamboo stocks are available in both moist deciduous and evergreen forests more or less uniformly. In the present study, remote sensing data in the form of large scale aerial photographs are mainly used for area estimation of bamboo stocks, supplemented by satellite data product like False Colour Composite. Wynad region of Kerala was selected and an attempt was made to prepare a stock map for bamboo using photostratification scheme
Vegetation characteristics of southern secondary moist mixed deciduous forest of windward Anamala... more Vegetation characteristics of southern secondary moist mixed deciduous forest of windward Anamalai's of Western Ghats were assessed by random sampling through census quadrat method. Twenty plots (0.1ha.) were laid out in moist deciduous forest area such as Chalakudy, Chimmony, Peechi and Vazhani regions; 0.5 ha. area was sampled from each locality totalling 2 ha. A total of 2919 individuals belonging to 208 species and spreading over 89 families were recorded from the 20 ha. area. This consists of 81 (38.94%) tree species, 21 (10.10%) shrubs, 58 (27.88%) herbs and 48 (23.08%) climbers. In terms of number of species per unit area, an average of 34 species per quadrate (0.1ha.) were present. For trees, shrubs, herbs and climbers this values were 16, 5, 6 and 7 respectively. The dominant tree association of the study area is Xylia xylocarpa, Lagerstroemia microcarpa, Grewia tilliaefolia and Terminalia paniculata. Comparatively high species diversity index value is registered for trees but very low for shrubs.
Aerosol optical properties were studied using handheld Microtops II sun photometer over Nagpur (7... more Aerosol optical properties were studied using handheld Microtops II sun photometer over Nagpur (79.028°E, 21.125°N) located in central India, suggests highest Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) (0.64 ± 0.08) during Pre-Monsoon Season (PMS) and lowest AOD (0.38 ± 0.06) during Summer Monsoon Season (SMS). Using the scatter plot of AOD 500 versus Angstrom exponent (α), dominating type of aerosol, during the most of the seasons is found to be urban/industrial and biomass burning (UB). Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) active fire data suggests a large amount of biomass burning in different parts of India during PMS compared to other seasons. Aerosol transport analysis suggests during PMS, the air masses were originated from the biomass burning regions, desert regions and also from marine regions. Seasonal variation of AOD 550 over India using MODIS data indicates significant AOD (> 0.7) over northwest during SMS, Indo-Gangetic region during Post Monsoon Season (PoMS) and north east region during winter. Southern part of India shows relatively less AOD (< 0.45) compared to north India during all the seasons. MODIS derived AOD and water vapor (NIR), compared against the ground-based observations from sun photometer, indicates an underestimation of 35% lower AOD compared to sun photometer and overestimation of 20% higher water vapor with correlation coefficients of 0.75 and 0.89 respectively. In view of the sizeable contribution of biomass burning aerosols, we suggest the use of a more absorbing type of aerosol model for central India, for an accurate retrieval of AOD from MODIS.
High altitude shola and grassland vegetation is found in Silent Valley and Eravikulam area in Ker... more High altitude shola and grassland vegetation is found in Silent Valley and Eravikulam area in Kerala. The shola and grassland mapping, its present status, etc., are studied in Eravikulam National Park area by visual interpretation techniques of large scale a photographs and satellite data products. IRS LISS II False Colour Composite of 1: 1,25,000 scale and Black & White aerial photograph of I : 15,000 scale are used to delineate the cover classes. The detailed land cover map was prepared using 1:15,000 Black & white aerial photographs. The area estimation and comparative study of the maps were done in detail.
Working Plans are the instruments for scientific forest management. They are useful in eval... more Working Plans are the instruments for scientific forest management. They are useful in evaluating the present status of natural resources, assessing the impact of past management practices and deciding management interventions to achieve the objectives of the Working Plan. Generally it takes 3-4 years to prepare the draft plan and management maps. The conventional method of making inputs for Working Plan using ground survey is a tedious process and time consuming. The deforested areas and Renotified forest areas are shown survey number wise in the cadastral maps. Hence, there is a need to integrate both topo sheets and village maps to have a single ownership map for the administrative purposes and it can be accomplished through GIS only because they are in different scales.
The present study analyzed the feasibility of using Remote Sensing and GIS in the generation of inputs for forest Working Plan preparation. The area statistics of the spatial data such as slope, drainage, and density, which have been calculated using the GIS helped the manager to allocate compartments to various Working Circles. The Coupe treatment map which is prepared based on ocular estimation results in rather inaccurate and inconsistent treatment maps. Spatial depiction of various treatment types Coupe treatment Map as prescribed in the plan and calculation of their areas, both management unit wise and administrative unit wise has become possible. Identification of suitable patches for plantations, check dams, percolation tanks and compartment wise calculation of these areas has become possible. Preparation of Grazing Closure and Class I Fire Control area maps which change every year has become possible which will be helpful for better monitoring • enforcement of Grazing Closure and Fire Control.
It has been demonstrated that preparation of Working Plan can be achieved quickly with much more accuracy, consistency and cost-effectiveness by using remotely sensed data in GIS environment. Due to its capability to provide timely, synoptic and repetitive coverage over large areas across various spatial scales, frequent and periodical monitoring and evaluation of the forest resources would be possible for proper maintenance and management. Utilization of RS and GIS inputs for Working Plan preparation can be further enhanced by measurement of tree height and stand volume, which could not be estimated directly from optical Remote Sensing data owing to poor correlation between tree height and reflectance values
Vegetation characteristics of southern secondary moist mixed deciduous forest of Trichur district... more Vegetation characteristics of southern secondary moist mixed deciduous forest of Trichur district of Kerala were assessed by random sampling through census quadrat method. Twenty plots (0.1ha.) were taken from Chalakudy, Chimmony, Peechi and Vazhani regions; 0.5 ha. area was sampled from each locality totalling 2 ha. A total of 2919 individuals belonging to 208 species and spreading over 89 families were recorded from the 20 ha area studied. This consists of 81 (38.94 %) tree species, 21(10.10%) shrubs, 58 (27.88 %) herbs and 48 (23.08 %) climbers. In terms of number of species per unit area, an average of 34 species were occurred per quadrate (0.1ha.). For trees, shrubs herbs, climbers this values were 16, 5, 6, 7 respectively. The dominant association of the study area is Xylia xylocarpa, Lagerstroemia microcarpa, Grewia tilliaefolia and Terminalia paniculata. Comparatively high species diversity index value is registered for trees, but very low in shrubs.
Ardeotis nigriceps, commonly known as Great Indian Bustard (GIB), is a Critically Endangered, Evo... more Ardeotis nigriceps, commonly known as Great Indian Bustard (GIB), is a Critically Endangered, Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Threatened (EDGE) and endemic species to the Indian subcontinent. GIB is under tremendous threat in its last strongholds and sliding inextricably towards extinction. The GIB sanctuary in Maharashtra (India) is one of the last refuges of the bird constituting an area of 8496 km2 spread over in seven talukas of Solapur and Ahemednagar districts. Major portion of the sanctuary (94.3 %) consists of privately owned lands under a variety of economic vocations and large number of villages and townships. In view of the legal restrictions relating to Protected Area under the Wildlife (Protection) Act of India 1972, the inhabitants of villages and townships faced a very difficult situation regarding use of their lands, development of properties and deriving benefits from planned local and regional development. This created conflict between local people and the forest department over the use of land, which necessitated the rationalization of the sanctuary. The objective of the present study was to map the suitable habitat of GIB in GIB Wildlife Sanctuary as an input for the realignment of the GIB Sanctuary by identifying areas that are important for the GIB. Main parameters considered for the habitat suitability assessments are, habit and habitat of GIB, slope, minimum patch size and disturbance sources. Based on the criteria derived for the ecological and biological requirements of GIB, binary deductive habitat suitability modeling has been done using remote sensing and GIS and prioritized the potential habitats of GIB. The net area of important suitable habitat of GIB in GIB sanctuary is 2304.99 km2 out of 8496.44 km2. The output of the present study has been used as an input by the committee (set by Honorable Supreme court of India) on rationalization of the GIB Sanctuary and the sanctuary has been rationalized with an area of 1222 km2.
One of the most complex problems facing in tropical forests, particularly the deciduous forests, ... more One of the most complex problems facing in tropical forests, particularly the deciduous forests, is the recurrent incidence of fire. It is well known that fire causes extensive damage in the forest ecosystem by quantitatively as well as qualitatively. In India 75 % of the total forest cover are coming under highly fire prone forest types like moist deciduous, dry deciduous and thorn forests. The main objectives of the present study are to characterise the physical aspects of fire in the moist deciduous forest, to study the changes brought about by fire on vegetation and their regeneration and to explore the feasibility of silvicultural techniques such as stump planting to improve upon fire survival of tree seedlings. The study area is located in the moist deciduous forest of Thrissur forest division, Kerala State, India. Impacts of fire on forests mainly depend on the intensity and periodicity of fire. Hence, to study fire ecological aspects, twelve 0.25ha (50m x 50m) plots were established for different burning treatments, viz. early-burn, late-burn, one year and two year fire frequencies and control, with three replications. Regenerating elements of tree species (1-10cm dbh), shrubs (with height above 50cm and dbh below 1cm) and herbs (below 50cm height) were identified, tagged and enumerated in all plots before and after prescribed burning and compared with the control (no burn) plots. It is observed that once the fuel quantity and fuel moisture content cross a certain limit which is sufficient for occurrence of fire, further change in fire behaviour is controlled by fuel porosity and fuel continuity. Other factors which control the rate of fire spread are size and thickness of leaves, rate of decomposition, soil moisture regime, wind and presence of grasses. The paper elucidates the different aspects of this experiment The results indicate that impact of fire is more in lower diameter classes (1-2.5cm dbh and 2.6-5cm dbh), whereas regeneration above 5cm dbh is less effected. Among the different moist deciduous tree species, thick bark species such as Gmelina arborea and Pterocarpus marsupium were found to be more resistant to fire. Paper concludes on the possible impact of fire on the status of moist deciduous forests in this part of India.
The diversity indices commonly used are based on the assumption that biological diversity can be ... more The diversity indices commonly used are based on the assumption that biological diversity can be satisfactorily described by two major components viz.; the number of species and their relative abundance. These indices treat all species as equivalent and ignore taxonomic or genetic differences among species of a community. However, two biological communities with similar numbers and frequencies of species could differ, for instance, with respect to the taxonomic diversity of the constituent species. In the present study Pielou's (1975) Hierarchical Diversity Index is used to get three taxonomic levels of diversity (family, species and genus). Quadrats of 0.1 ha. were laid out in different forest types in the present study totaling 21 quadrats comprising 2.1 ha. A total of 151 tree species spread over 52 families were recorded out of 9 forest types.
This article explores the potential of forestry practices to mitigate climate change. Forest not ... more This article explores the potential of forestry practices to mitigate climate change. Forest not only sustains its own carbon but also has the potential to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Reduction of photosynthesizing biomass through indiscriminate deforestation constitutes damage to the self-regulating mechanism that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere combustion. In the present study the biomass densities and carbon stocks of natural tropical forest of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve forest (TATR), Chandrapur, Maharashtra, India was estimated using standard carbon inventory methods. Present methodologies used to obtain carbon stock estimates for large forest areas are mostly based on forest inventory information as well as various factors, such as biomass equations, which transform diameter, height or volume data into biomass estimates. Tectona grandis showed the highest tree diameter of 26cm and average height of 19.85m while the lowest tree diameter and height of 10.35cm and 8.25m was shown by Ziziphus glaberrima, respectively. In addition, the total above and below ground biomass of the trees in the natural forest of TATR were observed to be 178.09 Mg/ha and 46.30 Mg/ha respectively. The carbon stock accumulated in vegetation was found to be 112.19 MgC/ha. in trees depends not only on climatic conditions but also on their growth and age. However, the estimation of net carbon uptake and storage by the forest ecosystem is very complex due to various factors that influence growth of trees and respiration of CO 2 .This study helps to understand the present status of carbon stored and sequestered in tropical dry forest ecosystem.
The multiplicity of forest products and their uses, and the conflicts it may cause among the stak... more The multiplicity of forest products and their uses, and the conflicts it may cause among the stakeholders and its long gestation period makes forestry planning to be considerably complex. Information need in forestry basically involve characterizing the location, area, and status of the forest resources / wildlife and the change in spatial and time domain. These information needs are not met entirely by traditional techniques because those were not practical or economically sound to devote more effort to human intensive menstruation activities. Indian forests are managed through the working / management plans, which are revised once in 10 years. Working plans are mainly oriented towards the production forestry and implemented in forest divisions, whereas management plans are focused on protection forestry and applicable to protected areas like National Parks, Tiger Reserves and wildlife sanctuaries. The forest management / working plans require timely and accurate geospatial information about forest condition, wildlife status and management practices at site specific and regional scales. Geospatial technologies, such as remote sensing, Geographical Information System (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS) provides vital support to collect, analyze and store all sort of geospatial information ((Rao et al., 2006). Though commercial packages facilities to customize the above modules in their own environment, exorbitant cost of such an approach becomes a limiting factor for providing the utilities to a large number of users. To tackle this problem two-standalone packages, Forest Management Information System (FMIS) and Protected Area Management Information System (PAMIS), have been developed by customizing the packages on low cost third party libraries, which can cover all the functionality envisaged in the system. FMIS is information and decision support system for working plan department and PAMIS is for protected areas like National parks, wildlife sanctuaries and tiger reserves. These information systems incorporate the functionality to view, query and analyse the data as per the requirements of users. Further, report generation utilities for providing inputs to management plan as per the need and convenience of the user department is developed and integrated into the system. This will enable any time anywhere availability of data, analysis and visualization system at the different hierarchy of the forest department.
Forest type of any given area is a manifestation of total ecological set up of that area. For pre... more Forest type of any given area is a manifestation of total ecological set up of that area. For preparing a blueprint for conservation of biota, one of the essential steps is cataloguing all identifiable ecosystems occurring within the region. Since the plant communities being primary producers reflect the basic characteristics of the physical environment and also in turn decide the identity of the consumers viz. the animals. The forest types of Kerala show highly heterogeneous nature and it is very difficult to stratify them at microlevel. The pictorial elements show overlapping pattern. In all the earlier studies in this area a broad categorisation of forest types like, evergreen, moist deciduous etc. alone have been done (Suraj et al., 1997 and Menon, 1993). In the present study the forest type classification of Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary was done using 1 : 15,000 black and white aerial photographs by Visual interpretation techniques. Microlevel stratification of forest types were achieved. West coast tropical evergreen forest and Hilltop evergreen forest were separately delineated in the wet evergreen forest. The phenological stages of forest were taken into account for achieving vegetation type classification. Systematic sample points were checked on the ground to evaluate the classification accuracy and it was found to be 95% accurate.
Detailed phytosociological analysis of Agasthyamalai region of Western Ghats has so far not been ... more Detailed phytosociological analysis of Agasthyamalai region of Western Ghats has so far not been carried out. This study is a pioneer attempt in this direction. Structure, composition, dynamics and diversity of the wet evergreen forest of the Agasthyamalai region of the southern Western Ghats were assessed using stratified random sampling by the census quadrat method. 0.1 ha plots were laid out in four localities of Agasthyamalai. From the quadrat data gathered primary and secondary analysis of the vegetation were done. A total of 435 individuals belonging to 79 species and spreading over 37 families was recorded. High stand density (1087.5 trees/ha), species density (79 species in 0.4 ha), medium basal area (64.09 m2/ha), low maturity (22.39%), low similarity between stands (<50.76%), the 'L' shaped curve of different dbh classes, medium diversity (3.143, Shannon's index value), high species richness (7.07, Margalef's index value) and low species evenness (0.89, Pielou's index value) were observed. On the basis of dominance and association, this forest type is identified as Mesua-Cullenia-Dimocarpus type and Clusiaceae, Myrtaceae and Lauraceae were the most important families.
The inventory and monitoring of forest resources have become increasingly important in recent yea... more The inventory and monitoring of forest resources have become increasingly important in recent years, and the process has been accelerated with the introduction of photointerpretation techniques in the forestry sector. Because of the different bioclimatic and geographical conditions prevailing in the Western Ghats of India, the vegetation exhibits a highly heterogeneous nature and it is very difficult to distinguish the forest types. Very little work has been done in the field of cover type classification of the Western Ghat region of Kerala using remote sensing techniques. A broad classification of the forest types in the region (evergreen, moist deciduous, dry deciduous, etc.) was adopted in earlier works on the region. In this paper an interpretation key is developed and presented for the identification of forest/land cover types from 1: 15 000 black and white aerial photographs taken in January-March 1988-90. Photographs were analysed for the southern moist mixed deciduous
A seamless vegetation type map of India (scale 1: 50,000) prepared using medium-resolution IRS LI... more A seamless vegetation type map of India (scale 1: 50,000) prepared using medium-resolution IRS LISS-III images is presented. The map was created using an on-screen visual interpretation technique and has an accuracy of 90%, as assessed using 15,565 ground control points. India has hitherto been using potential vegetation/forest type map prepared by Champion and Seth in 1968. We characterized and mapped further the vegetation type distribution in the country in terms of occurrence and distribution, area occupancy, percentage of protected area (PA) covered by each vegetation type, range of elevation, mean annual temperature and precipitation over the past 100 years. A remote sensing-amenable hierarchical classification scheme that accommodates natural and semi-natural systems was conceptualized, and the natural vegetation was classified into forests, scrub/shrub lands and grasslands on the basis of extent of vegetation cover. We discuss the distribution and potential utility of the vegetation type map in a broad range of ecological, climatic and conservation applications from global, national and local perspectives. We used 15,565 ground control points to assess the accuracy of products available globally (i.e., GlobCover, Holdridge’s life zone map and potential natural vegetation (PNV) maps). Hence we recommend that the map prepared herein be used widely. This vegetation type map is the most comprehensive one developed for India so far. It was prepared using 23.5 m seasonal satellite remote sensing data, field samples and information relating to the biogeography, climate and soil. The digital map is now available through a web portal (http://bis.iirs.gov.in).
The moist deciduous forest occupies nearly about half the total forest area of Kerala. For most o... more The moist deciduous forest occupies nearly about half the total forest area of Kerala. For most of the timber and non-wood forest produce, people of Kerala depend on these forests. Due to edaphic and climatic variations they exhibit much variation in qualitative and quantitative aspects. This forest is in the process of degradation due to various anthropogenic activities. An attempt is made in this paper to evaluate the variability in structure and composition in representative moist deciduous forest of Kerala with respect to species diversity, dominance, association, community similarity, successional status, girth class distribution, important value index, etc. by stratified random sampling from southern, central and northern parts of Kerala
Inventorying, understanding the level, distribution and dynamics of biodiversity have considerabl... more Inventorying, understanding the level, distribution and dynamics of biodiversity have considerable significance in long-term health and vigour of the biosphere. The diversity indices commonly used are based on the assumption that biological diversity can be satisfactorily described by two major components viz: the number of species and their relative abundance. In order to understand the complexities and 'niche' characteristics of community, or a landscape, or a geographic area the ecological level of diversity has considerable significance. The ecosystem and ecological levels of diversity of tree species of Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary was assessed following Whittaker (1977) . Tah samplings were done by stratified sampling method using quadrats. A total of 151 tree species spread over 52 families were recorded out of nine forest types
Land cover maps depicting various vegetation cover classes are highly necessary for sanctuary ma... more Land cover maps depicting various vegetation cover classes are highly necessary for sanctuary management. Remote Sensing Data utilization for cover type mapping is one of the most cost effective method for vegetation mapping, especially in tropics. Here an attempt is made to map the forest vegetation of Chimmony Wildlife Sanctuary using aerial photographs (Black & White 1:15,000) and Landsat TM FCC (1:50,000) using the standard visual interpretation techniques.
Identification of bamboo growing area and the stock estimation is of great significance in forest... more Identification of bamboo growing area and the stock estimation is of great significance in forest resource planning. The area estimation of bamboo in the tropical forest system is very difficult, since the bamboo stocks are available in both moist deciduous and evergreen forests more or less uniformly. In the present study, remote sensing data in the form of large scale aerial photographs are mainly used for area estimation of bamboo stocks, supplemented by satellite data product like False Colour Composite. Wynad region of Kerala was selected and an attempt was made to prepare a stock map for bamboo using photostratification scheme
Vegetation characteristics of southern secondary moist mixed deciduous forest of windward Anamala... more Vegetation characteristics of southern secondary moist mixed deciduous forest of windward Anamalai's of Western Ghats were assessed by random sampling through census quadrat method. Twenty plots (0.1ha.) were laid out in moist deciduous forest area such as Chalakudy, Chimmony, Peechi and Vazhani regions; 0.5 ha. area was sampled from each locality totalling 2 ha. A total of 2919 individuals belonging to 208 species and spreading over 89 families were recorded from the 20 ha. area. This consists of 81 (38.94%) tree species, 21 (10.10%) shrubs, 58 (27.88%) herbs and 48 (23.08%) climbers. In terms of number of species per unit area, an average of 34 species per quadrate (0.1ha.) were present. For trees, shrubs, herbs and climbers this values were 16, 5, 6 and 7 respectively. The dominant tree association of the study area is Xylia xylocarpa, Lagerstroemia microcarpa, Grewia tilliaefolia and Terminalia paniculata. Comparatively high species diversity index value is registered for trees but very low for shrubs.
Aerosol optical properties were studied using handheld Microtops II sun photometer over Nagpur (7... more Aerosol optical properties were studied using handheld Microtops II sun photometer over Nagpur (79.028°E, 21.125°N) located in central India, suggests highest Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) (0.64 ± 0.08) during Pre-Monsoon Season (PMS) and lowest AOD (0.38 ± 0.06) during Summer Monsoon Season (SMS). Using the scatter plot of AOD 500 versus Angstrom exponent (α), dominating type of aerosol, during the most of the seasons is found to be urban/industrial and biomass burning (UB). Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) active fire data suggests a large amount of biomass burning in different parts of India during PMS compared to other seasons. Aerosol transport analysis suggests during PMS, the air masses were originated from the biomass burning regions, desert regions and also from marine regions. Seasonal variation of AOD 550 over India using MODIS data indicates significant AOD (> 0.7) over northwest during SMS, Indo-Gangetic region during Post Monsoon Season (PoMS) and north east region during winter. Southern part of India shows relatively less AOD (< 0.45) compared to north India during all the seasons. MODIS derived AOD and water vapor (NIR), compared against the ground-based observations from sun photometer, indicates an underestimation of 35% lower AOD compared to sun photometer and overestimation of 20% higher water vapor with correlation coefficients of 0.75 and 0.89 respectively. In view of the sizeable contribution of biomass burning aerosols, we suggest the use of a more absorbing type of aerosol model for central India, for an accurate retrieval of AOD from MODIS.
High altitude shola and grassland vegetation is found in Silent Valley and Eravikulam area in Ker... more High altitude shola and grassland vegetation is found in Silent Valley and Eravikulam area in Kerala. The shola and grassland mapping, its present status, etc., are studied in Eravikulam National Park area by visual interpretation techniques of large scale a photographs and satellite data products. IRS LISS II False Colour Composite of 1: 1,25,000 scale and Black & White aerial photograph of I : 15,000 scale are used to delineate the cover classes. The detailed land cover map was prepared using 1:15,000 Black & white aerial photographs. The area estimation and comparative study of the maps were done in detail.
Working Plans are the instruments for scientific forest management. They are useful in eval... more Working Plans are the instruments for scientific forest management. They are useful in evaluating the present status of natural resources, assessing the impact of past management practices and deciding management interventions to achieve the objectives of the Working Plan. Generally it takes 3-4 years to prepare the draft plan and management maps. The conventional method of making inputs for Working Plan using ground survey is a tedious process and time consuming. The deforested areas and Renotified forest areas are shown survey number wise in the cadastral maps. Hence, there is a need to integrate both topo sheets and village maps to have a single ownership map for the administrative purposes and it can be accomplished through GIS only because they are in different scales.
The present study analyzed the feasibility of using Remote Sensing and GIS in the generation of inputs for forest Working Plan preparation. The area statistics of the spatial data such as slope, drainage, and density, which have been calculated using the GIS helped the manager to allocate compartments to various Working Circles. The Coupe treatment map which is prepared based on ocular estimation results in rather inaccurate and inconsistent treatment maps. Spatial depiction of various treatment types Coupe treatment Map as prescribed in the plan and calculation of their areas, both management unit wise and administrative unit wise has become possible. Identification of suitable patches for plantations, check dams, percolation tanks and compartment wise calculation of these areas has become possible. Preparation of Grazing Closure and Class I Fire Control area maps which change every year has become possible which will be helpful for better monitoring • enforcement of Grazing Closure and Fire Control.
It has been demonstrated that preparation of Working Plan can be achieved quickly with much more accuracy, consistency and cost-effectiveness by using remotely sensed data in GIS environment. Due to its capability to provide timely, synoptic and repetitive coverage over large areas across various spatial scales, frequent and periodical monitoring and evaluation of the forest resources would be possible for proper maintenance and management. Utilization of RS and GIS inputs for Working Plan preparation can be further enhanced by measurement of tree height and stand volume, which could not be estimated directly from optical Remote Sensing data owing to poor correlation between tree height and reflectance values
Identification of risk factors, sensitivity categorization and infrastructure development for the... more Identification of risk factors, sensitivity categorization and infrastructure development for the preventive measures are the foremost requirements for the management of protected areas. Forest department has a unique way to manage it by use of residential locations called protection huts. They are used to manage the vicinity of the located protection hut by personal vigilance. Derivation of protection hut locations needs the consideration of various criteria on priority. This study aimed to identify major threat factors, their sensitivity categorization and infrastructure development in conservation and management of wildlife in Melghat Tiger Reserve using Remote Sensing and GIS. Influencing factors like NWFP collection pressure, schedule wise faunal density, poaching sensitive areas, illicit felling area, and proximity to village & road etc have taken into consideration in categorization of risk zones and their prioritization. Highest importance was given to schedule wise faunal density and poaching sensitive areas. Risk zones integrated with vegetation density, terrain, existing protection hut buffer and water availability modeled in GIS for the new / relocation / removable of protection huts. The study resulted in categorization of risk zones, their prioritization entailed by the need of new / relocation of protection huts to escalate the efficiency of protection.
One of the most complex problems facing in tropical forests, particularly in deciduous forests, i... more One of the most complex problems facing in tropical forests, particularly in deciduous forests, is the recurrent incidence of fire. It is well known that fire caused extensive damage in the forest ecosystem by quantitatively and qualitatively. To reduce occurrences of forest fire, management of fire is highly important which entails mapping of risk zones and identification of suitable area for watchtowers. Watchtowers at crucial points which give good overview of large parts of the area, effective communication network, and mobility to reach affected areas swiftly are all important factors for effective fire protection. The objective of the present study is mapping & prioritization of fire risk zone and thus by Identification of suitable sites for fire watchtowers using GIS and Remote Sensing. Fire inducing factors like vegetation density, topography, proximity to village & road, fire frequency, fire intensity, NWFP collection areas etc., have been taken by assigning weightage in identification of fire risk zones and their prioritization. The inter relationship for these factors was established and finally a criterion based analysis have been performed for identification and zonation of fire risk zones from lowest to highest risk. The identification of suitable sites for locating new watchtowers has been done by integrating and modeling of forest fire risk zone map, existing watchtowers and water source availability in GIS. Based on this results watchtower were divided into three categories – newly suggested, retainable and removable. All the points were confirmed with ground truth, which suited the requirement.
The accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere due to fossil fuel use, deforestation and other anthrop... more The accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere due to fossil fuel use, deforestation and other anthropogenic sources are changing the global climate, adversely. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on land use change and forestry has noted that through suitable management practices, the rate of the CO2 sequestration could be enhanced considerably. The main objective of the present study is to compare the rate of carbon sequestration and carbon stocks in different ecosystems i.e. manmade forest, natural forest and agricultural land and thereby, develop a model to predict the potential sites of CO 2 sequestration and demonstrate this activity under Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). This would create a long-term secure income for industries, marginal farmers and landless labourers in Nagpur District (study area) of Maharashtra, India. To achieve this objective, stratified random sampling of the vegetation in the study areas were done, to assess the present above ground carbon stock, SOC and the rate of CO2 flux in different ecosystems. With the use of remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) this data was extrapolated to the study area, to assess the present carbon stock and rate of CO2 sequestration. Similarly soil organic carbon (SOC) per unit area gathered from representative sites were extrapolated to the total area of the study site through soil depth and land cover map prepared from satellite data. The study resulted in documentation of present carbon stock, rate of carbon sequestration, potential sites for carbon sequestration in the study areas. The highest carbon stock was estimated in forest ecosystem i.e. 18.225Tg followed by agricultural ecosystem i.e. 12.637Tg and afforested ecosystem i.e. 0.101Tg. The potential area for up-scaling carbon sequestration by various forestry, afforestation and agricultural practices are also explored in this study by integrating soil, land capability and satellite data and modelling in GIS. The carbon that could be sequestrated through forestry, agriculture and afforestation practices was estimated to be 1.5003Tg in an area of 14904.84ha, 0.52732Tg in an area of 22240.89ha and0.3468Tg in an area of 5115.13ha respectively.
Individuals of plant species in vegetation are distributed in one of the three basic patterns: ra... more Individuals of plant species in vegetation are distributed in one of the three basic patterns: random, aggregated, or regular. The pattern of species distribution depends on so many factors. In the present paper the pattern of species distribution in various forest types of Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary has been analysed. For this, stratified random sampling techniques were used. It has been found that contiguous distribution is common in most of the forest types except in Pioneer euphorbiaceous scrub and one locality of Southern secondary moist deciduous forest. In these forest types high random distribution of species is seen due to pioneer successional stage of the former and severe adverse conditions prevailing in the latter. Only dominant species exhibit regular distribution. It has also revealed that the pattern of distribution of species varies type to type. The environmental and edaphic heterogeneity together with competition play an important role in the distribution of individuals of a species in Southern Western Ghats.
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Papers by Varghese A.O.
The forest management / working plans require timely and accurate geospatial information about forest condition, wildlife status and management practices at site specific and regional scales. Geospatial technologies, such as remote sensing, Geographical Information System (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS) provides vital support to collect, analyze and store all sort of geospatial information ((Rao et al., 2006). Though commercial packages facilities to customize the above modules in their own environment, exorbitant cost of such an approach becomes a limiting factor for providing the utilities to a large number of users.
To tackle this problem two-standalone packages, Forest Management Information System (FMIS) and Protected Area Management Information System (PAMIS), have been developed by customizing the packages on low cost third party libraries, which can cover all the functionality envisaged in the system. FMIS is information and decision support system for working plan department and PAMIS is for protected areas like National parks, wildlife sanctuaries and tiger reserves. These information systems incorporate the functionality to view, query and analyse the data as per the requirements of users. Further, report generation utilities for providing inputs to management plan as per the need and convenience of the user department is developed and integrated into the system. This will enable any time anywhere availability of data, analysis and visualization system at the different hierarchy of the forest department.
accomplished through GIS only because they are in different scales.
The present study analyzed the feasibility of using Remote Sensing and GIS in the generation of inputs for forest Working Plan preparation. The area statistics of the spatial data such as slope, drainage, and density, which have been calculated using the GIS helped the manager to allocate compartments to various Working Circles. The Coupe treatment map which is prepared based on ocular estimation results in rather inaccurate and inconsistent treatment maps. Spatial depiction of various treatment types Coupe treatment Map as prescribed in the plan and calculation of their areas, both management unit wise and administrative unit wise has become possible. Identification of suitable patches for plantations, check dams, percolation tanks and compartment wise calculation of these areas has become possible. Preparation of Grazing Closure and Class I Fire Control area maps which change every year has become possible which will be helpful for better monitoring • enforcement of Grazing Closure and Fire Control.
It has been demonstrated that preparation of Working Plan can be achieved quickly with much more accuracy, consistency and cost-effectiveness by using remotely sensed data in GIS environment. Due to its capability to provide timely, synoptic and repetitive coverage over large areas across various spatial scales, frequent and periodical monitoring and evaluation of the forest resources would be possible for proper maintenance and management. Utilization of RS and GIS inputs for Working Plan preparation can be further enhanced by measurement of tree height and stand volume, which could not be estimated directly from optical Remote Sensing data owing to poor correlation between tree height and reflectance values
The forest management / working plans require timely and accurate geospatial information about forest condition, wildlife status and management practices at site specific and regional scales. Geospatial technologies, such as remote sensing, Geographical Information System (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS) provides vital support to collect, analyze and store all sort of geospatial information ((Rao et al., 2006). Though commercial packages facilities to customize the above modules in their own environment, exorbitant cost of such an approach becomes a limiting factor for providing the utilities to a large number of users.
To tackle this problem two-standalone packages, Forest Management Information System (FMIS) and Protected Area Management Information System (PAMIS), have been developed by customizing the packages on low cost third party libraries, which can cover all the functionality envisaged in the system. FMIS is information and decision support system for working plan department and PAMIS is for protected areas like National parks, wildlife sanctuaries and tiger reserves. These information systems incorporate the functionality to view, query and analyse the data as per the requirements of users. Further, report generation utilities for providing inputs to management plan as per the need and convenience of the user department is developed and integrated into the system. This will enable any time anywhere availability of data, analysis and visualization system at the different hierarchy of the forest department.
accomplished through GIS only because they are in different scales.
The present study analyzed the feasibility of using Remote Sensing and GIS in the generation of inputs for forest Working Plan preparation. The area statistics of the spatial data such as slope, drainage, and density, which have been calculated using the GIS helped the manager to allocate compartments to various Working Circles. The Coupe treatment map which is prepared based on ocular estimation results in rather inaccurate and inconsistent treatment maps. Spatial depiction of various treatment types Coupe treatment Map as prescribed in the plan and calculation of their areas, both management unit wise and administrative unit wise has become possible. Identification of suitable patches for plantations, check dams, percolation tanks and compartment wise calculation of these areas has become possible. Preparation of Grazing Closure and Class I Fire Control area maps which change every year has become possible which will be helpful for better monitoring • enforcement of Grazing Closure and Fire Control.
It has been demonstrated that preparation of Working Plan can be achieved quickly with much more accuracy, consistency and cost-effectiveness by using remotely sensed data in GIS environment. Due to its capability to provide timely, synoptic and repetitive coverage over large areas across various spatial scales, frequent and periodical monitoring and evaluation of the forest resources would be possible for proper maintenance and management. Utilization of RS and GIS inputs for Working Plan preparation can be further enhanced by measurement of tree height and stand volume, which could not be estimated directly from optical Remote Sensing data owing to poor correlation between tree height and reflectance values
study by integrating soil, land capability and satellite data and modelling in GIS. The carbon that could be sequestrated through forestry, agriculture and afforestation practices was estimated to be 1.5003Tg in an area of 14904.84ha, 0.52732Tg in an area of 22240.89ha and0.3468Tg in an area of 5115.13ha respectively.