Assessment and monitoring of long-term forest cover changes (1920–2013) in Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot

Reddy, C. Sudhakar; Jha, Chandra Shekhar; Dadhwal, V. K.

doi:10.1007/s12040-015-0645-y

Cited by 66 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…We then used Image-to-image registrations using Ground Control Points (GCPs) obtained from Landsat 8 OLI orthorectified data. Multi-resolution satellite imageries were resampled into 30 m resolution to reduce pseudo change detection [ 45 ]. We mapped roads and verified locations of settlements, grasslands and water bodies with Survey of India (SOI) toposheets (1:50,000) and obtained the KWS boundary from Tamil Nadu Forest Department (TNFD).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite a lack of detailed information on the extent and nature of landscape change in the Palani Hills, the state forest department has now been tasked to “annihilate wattle” ( sic ) and restore forests, assuming that only forests have been impacted by these plantations (WR1-7028-2014 dated 26-3-2014). Additionally, regional assessments of landscape change have focused on forest cover while ignoring the loss of native grasslands [ 45 , 46 ] However, a preliminary assessment of the Palani Hills landscape suggested an extensive loss of grassland habitat [ 47 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Not seeing the grass for the trees: Timber plantations and agriculture shrink tropical montane grassland by two-thirds over four decades in the Palani Hills, a Western Ghats Sky Island

Arasumani

Khan

Das³

et al. 2018

PLoS ONE

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Tropical montane habitats, grasslands, in particular, merit urgent conservation attention owing to the disproportionate levels of endemic biodiversity they harbour, the ecosystem services they provide, and the fact that they are among the most threatened habitats globally. The Shola Sky Islands in the Western Ghats host a matrix of native forest-grassland matrix that has been planted over the last century, with exotic timber plantations. The popular discourse on the landscape change is that mainly forests have been lost to the timber plantations and recent court directives are to restore Shola forest trees. In this study, we examine spatiotemporal patterns of landscape change over the last 40 years in the Palani Hills, a significant part of the montane habitat in the Western Ghats. Using satellite imagery and field surveys, we find that 66% of native grasslands and 31% of native forests have been lost over the last 40 years. Grasslands have gone from being the dominant, most contiguous land cover to one of the rarest and most fragmented. They have been replaced by timber plantations and, to a lesser extent, expanding agriculture. We find that the spatial pattern of grassland loss to plantations differs from the loss to agriculture, likely driven by the invasion of plantation species into grasslands. We identify remnant grasslands that should be prioritised for conservation and make specific recommendations for conservation and restoration of grasslands in light of current management policy in the Palani Hills, which favours large-scale removal of plantations and emphasises the restoration of native forests.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Not seeing the grass for the trees: Timber plantations and agriculture shrink tropical montane grassland by two-thirds over four decades in the Palani Hills, a Western Ghats Sky Island

Arasumani

Khan

Das³

et al. 2018

PLoS ONE

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“…The abovementioned land-use changes have affected the ecosystems of Kerala forests in two considerable ways; firstly, a noticeable shrinkage of Kerala's forest covers and, secondly, loss of structural integrity of the residual forestland. As a result of several activities like forest degradation, unscientific farming practices, encroachment and over-exploitation of forest resources, the high range zones are now under constant risk of biodiversity loss and environmental degradation (Kumar, 2005;Reddy et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Long-Term Spatio-Temporal Trends in Land Use/Land Cover in Devikulam Taluk, Kerala Using Geospatial Techniques

et al. 2019

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This study was undertaken to evaluate the spatial as well as the temporal changes in land use/ land cover in Devikulam Taluk, Idukki District, Kerala, and to assess the effects of increasing anthropogenic pressure on the fragile ecosystem of this area. For analysis, land use/ land cover maps of four different years, i.e., 1988, 1999, 2008 and 2017, were generated using LANDSAT TM (Thematic Mapper), ETM+ (Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus) and OLI/TIRS (Operational Land Imager/Thermal InfraRed Sensor) satellite imagery. The results of the study suggested that there has been a drastic increase in the built-up area and a continuous decline in the forest area in Devikulam from 35.31 km 2 built-up in 1988 to 73.92 km 2 in 2017, and 1374.52 km 2 forest in 1988 to 1247.24 km 2 in 2017, respectively. Over this period of approximately 40 years, around 47.85 km 2 area of the forest got converted to built-up. This could be due to the increasing anthropogenic pressure in terms of migration or booming tourism contributing to the increased demand for infrastructures. Therefore, appropriate land use planning is a fundamental step towards the sustainable development of this biogeographically rich and unique area of Devikulam Taluk.

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“…This region also has one of the richest evergreen forests with a number of distinct species. However, during recent periods, there has been a gradual but significant loss of forest cover (Reddy et al, ). In the district of Uttara Kannada in Karnataka, forest cover has declined by 50% (Gadgil, ), while the evergreen forest in Kerala is currently facing extinction (Ramesh et al, ) with the rate of deforestation accelerating during recent decades (Chattopadhyay, ; Ramesh et al, ; Reddy et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moisture Supply From the Western Ghats Forests to Water Deficit East Coast of India

Paul

Ghosh

Rajendran

et al. 2018

Geophysical Research Letters

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The mountainous western coast of India, known as the Western Ghats, is considered to be a biodiversity hot spot, but it is under a constant threat due to human activities. The region is characterized by high orographic monsoon precipitation resulting in dense vegetation cover. Feedback of such a dense vegetation on the southwest monsoon rainfall is not yet explored. Here we perform regional climate simulations with the Weather Research and Forecasting model and find that evapotranspiration from the vegetation of Western Ghats contributes 25-40% of the southwest monsoon rainfall over the water-deficit state of Tamil Nadu. This contribution reaches 50% during deficit monsoon years or dry spells within a season. Our findings suggest that recent deforestation in this area will affect not only the biodiversity of the region but also the water availability over Peninsular India, which is already impacted by water scarcity.Plain Language Summary Forests over the Western Ghats (WG) region at the west coast of India are suffering from severe deforestation. We find that the vegetation over the WG region contributes moisture to the precipitation of the water-deficit state of Tamil Nadu and it reaches as high as 40% in many of the regions. Tamil Nadu is at present is under severe water crisis due to interstate water sharing and related controversies. We emphasize the urgent need of enforcing strict laws to stop the deforestation of WG not only to retain bio-diversity but also to maintain the water cycle over these semiarid parts of Peninsular India.

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Assessment and monitoring of long-term forest cover changes (1920–2013) in Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot

Cited by 66 publications

References 15 publications

Not seeing the grass for the trees: Timber plantations and agriculture shrink tropical montane grassland by two-thirds over four decades in the Palani Hills, a Western Ghats Sky Island

Not seeing the grass for the trees: Timber plantations and agriculture shrink tropical montane grassland by two-thirds over four decades in the Palani Hills, a Western Ghats Sky Island

Analysis of Long-Term Spatio-Temporal Trends in Land Use/Land Cover in Devikulam Taluk, Kerala Using Geospatial Techniques

Moisture Supply From the Western Ghats Forests to Water Deficit East Coast of India

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