Spatial alteration of fragmented forest landscape for improving structural quality of habitat: a case study from Radhanagar Forest Range, Bankura District, West Bengal, India

Abstract

Anthropogenic pressures create a complex pattern of forest habitat shape structure in Radhanagar Forest Range (RFR) in Bankura district. Habitat landscape design controls existing bio-geographical process. High fragmented and more complex habitat make imbalance in ecological process in the study area. Therefore, a measure is very urgent to control fragmentation process. Spatial alteration is one of the best methods to improve habitat quality which reduces habitat shape complexity. Fragmentation and structural composition of habitat will be understood through the interpretation of several geometric indices like perimeter area ratio (PAR), shape index (SI), and fractal dimension (FD). These indices are used to know the nature of habitat fragmentation in Radhanagar Forest range. The main objective of the study is to reduce habitat shape complexity by spatial alteration. Therefore, two types of map, one is existing forest land cover and another is selected areas altered forest land cover of Radhanagar Forest Range are prepared using ERDAS 9.3 and ArcGIS 10.3 version software. Then these maps are analyzed through FragStat 4.2 version software to get above mentioned indices. The study compares the indices values to know the structural quality of forest shape from both maps. The comparison address that altered forest habitat structural quality is better than existing forest landscape habitat quality. Therefore, landuse alteration in a forest matrix is obviously area specific in respect of its shape structure. ARTICLE HISTORY

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