ANALYSIS OF LAND USE, STRUCTURE, DIVERSITY, BIOMASS PRODUCTION,C AND NUTRIENT STORAGE OF A DRY TROPICAL FOTEST ECOSYSTEM USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES

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Date
2007
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Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur
Abstract
Tropical forests are recognised as rich, diverse and highly productive ecosystems of the world. More than half of the global annual NPP occurs in the tropics. In India, the tropical forests covers about 75% of the forest wealth. The present study was carried out to characterize the land use, vegetation structure, diversity, biomass production, C and nutrient storage of a dry tropical forest ecosystem in Barnawpara Sanctuary, Raipur district of Chhattisgarh through satellite remote sensing techniques and GIS. Land cover and vegetation were spatially analyzed by digitally classifying IRS 1D LISS III satellite data using maximum likelihood algorithm. Later, the variations in structure, diversity, biomass, NPP, C and nutrient storage in different forest types/classes were quantified by adopting quadratic sampling procedures. Five forest viz., Teak forest, Dense mixed forest, Degraded mixed forest, Sal mixed forest and Open mixed forest. Phyto-sociological and diversity analysis revealed that density of different forest types varied from 324 to 733 trees ha-1, basal area from 8.13 to 28.87 m2 ha-1 and number of species from 9 to 26. Similarly, the diversity ranged from 1.36 to 2.98, concentration of dominance from 0.07 to 0.49, species richness from 3.88 to 6.86 and beta diversity from 1.29 to 2.21. Sal mixed forest type recorded highest basal area and diversity was highest in Dense mixed forest, while Teak forest recorded maximum density. It was poor in Degraded mixed forests. The standing biomass and net production varied from 18.65 to 101.48 Mg ha-1 and 5.28 to 12.73 Mg ha-1 yr-1, respectively among different forest types. The highest biomass was found in Dense mixed forest, while net production was highest in Teak forests. Both were lowest in Degraded mixed forests in different forest types. The standing biomass present in the Dense mixed forest is 321464.28 Mg, Teak forest is 195741.75 Mg, Sal mixed forest is 72680.89 Mg, Open mixed forest is 266279.68 Mg and Degraded mixed forest is 42996.08 Mg. The total storage of nutrients in vegetation (OS+US+GS) varied from 105.1 to 560.69 kg ha-1 in N, 4.09 kg ha-1 to 49.59 kg ha-1 in P, 24.59 kg ha-1 to 255.58 kg ha-1for K and 7310 to 4836 kg ha-1 for C in different forest types. They were highest in Dense mixed forest and lowest in Degraded mixed forest. The study demonstrated that NDVI is quite useful in predicting the biomass, C and N storage, besides the estimation of LAI in dry tropical forests. The empirical models were developed for estimating the ecological variables of vegetation. The study proves the usefulness of satellite remote sensing and GIS techniques for vegetation analysis at large spatial scales. The study shows that dry tropical forests of Chhattisgarh are quite immature and not in standing state and have strong potential for carbon sequestration. Both quantitative and qualitative information derived in the study helped in evolving key strategies for improving the C sequestration and nutrient budgets in different forest types. The conclusion and suggestion emerged from the study are crucial for the sustainable management of dry tropical forests of Chhattisgarh.
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ANALYSIS OF LAND USE, STRUCTURE, DIVERSITY, BIOMASS PRODUCTION,C AND NUTRIENT STORAGE OF A DRY TROPICAL FOTEST ECOSYSTEM USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES
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