Impact of riparian land use on stream insects of Kudremukh National Park, Karnataka state, India

The impact of riparian land use on the stream insect communities was studied at Kudremukh National Park located within Western Ghats, a tropical biodiversity hotspot in India. The diversity and community composition of stream insects varied across streams with different riparian land use types. The rarefied family and generic richness was highest in streams with natural semi evergreen forests as riparian vegetation. However, when the streams had human habitations and areca nut plantations as riparian land use type, the rarefied richness was higher than that of streams with natural evergreen forests and grasslands. The streams with scrub lands and iron ore mining as the riparian land use had the lowest rarefied richness. Within a landscape, the streams with the natural riparian vegetation had similar community composition. However, streams with natural grasslands as the riparian vegetation, had low diversity and the community composition was similar to those of paddy fields. We discuss how stream insect assemblages differ due to varied riparian land use patterns, reflecting fundamental alterations in the functioning of stream ecosystems. This understanding is vital to conserve, manage and restore tropical riverine ecosystems.

Road kills of amphibians in different land use areas from Sharavathi river basin, central Western Ghats, India

A survey of amphibian mortality on roads was carried out in the Sharavathi river basin in the central Western Ghats. Road kills in three different land use areas: agricultural fields, water bodies and forests were recorded for four days along three 100m stretches in each type of area. One-hundred-and-forty-four individuals belonging to two orders, eight families, 11 genera and 13 species were recorded in the survey. Kills/km observed were: in forest 55, agricultural fields 38 and water bodies 27, for an overall average of 40 kills/km. Kill species compositions varied significantly between land use areas, but not overall kill rates.

Geochemistry and petrology of the ferropicrite dikes and associated rocks of Vestfjella, western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

This study provides insights into the composition and origin of ferropicrite dikes (FeOtot = 13 17 wt. %; MgO = 13 19 wt. %) and associated meimechite, picrite, picrobasalt, and basalt dikes found at Vestfjella, western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. The dikes crosscut Jurassic Karoo continental flood basalts (CFB) that were emplaced during the early stages of the breakup of the Gondwana supercontinent ~180 Ma ago. Selected samples (31 overall from at least eleven dikes) were analyzed for their mineral chemical, major element, trace element, and Sr, Nd, Pb, and Os isotopic compositions. The studied samples can be divided into two geochemically distinct types: (1) The depleted type (24 samples from at least nine dikes) is relatively depleted in the most incompatible elements and exhibits isotopic characteristics (e.g., initial εNd of +4.8 to +8.3 and initial 187Os/188Os of 0.1256 0.1277 at 180 Ma) similar to those of mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB); (2) The enriched type (7 samples from at least two dikes) exhibits relatively enriched incompatible element and isotopic characteristics (e.g., initial εNd of +1.8 to +3.6 and initial 187Os/188Os of 0.1401 0.1425 at 180 Ma) similar to those of oceanic island basalts. Both magma types have escaped significant contamination by the continental crust. The depleted type is related to the main phase of Karoo magmatism and originated as highly magnesian (MgO up to 25 wt. %) partial melts at high temperatures (mantle potential temperature >1600 °C) and pressures (~5 6 GPa) from a sublithospheric, water-bearing, depleted peridotite mantle source. The enriched type sampled pyroxene-bearing heterogeneities that can be traced down to either recycled oceanic crust or melt-metasomatized portions of the sublithospheric or lithospheric mantle. The source of the depleted type represents a sublithospheric end-member source for many Karoo lavas and has subsequently been sampled by the MORBs of the Indian Ocean. These observations, together with the purported high temperatures, indicate that the Karoo CFBs were formed in an extensive melting episode caused mainly by internal heating of the upper mantle beneath the Gondwana supercontinent. My research supports the view that ferropicritic melts can be generated in several ways: the relative Fe-enrichment of mantle partial melts is most readily achieved by (1) relatively low degree of partial melting, (2) high pressure of partial melting, and (3) melting of enriched source components (e.g., pyroxenite and metasomatized peridotite). Ferropicritic whole-rock compositions could also result from accumulation, secondary alteration, and fractional crystallization, however, and caution is required when addressing the parental magma composition.

Policy analysis and integrated land use.

XVIII IUFRO World Congress, Ljubljana 1986.

Cost and effectiveness of legal mandates for the practice of forestry on private land.

XVIII IUFRO World Congress, Ljubljana 1986.

Mining Land Cover Information Using Multilayer Perceptron and Decision Tree from MODIS Data

Land cover (LC) changes play a major role in global as well as at regional scale patterns of the climate and biogeochemistry of the Earth system. LC information presents critical insights in understanding of Earth surface phenomena, particularly useful when obtained synoptically from remote sensing data. However, for developing countries and those with large geographical extent, regular LC mapping is prohibitive with data from commercial sensors (high cost factor) of limited spatial coverage (low temporal resolution and band swath). In this context, free MODIS data with good spectro-temporal resolution meet the purpose. LC mapping from these data has continuously evolved with advances in classification algorithms. This paper presents a comparative study of two robust data mining techniques, the multilayer perceptron (MLP) and decision tree (DT) on different products of MODIS data corresponding to Kolar district, Karnataka, India. The MODIS classified images when compared at three different spatial scales (at district level, taluk level and pixel level) shows that MLP based classification on minimum noise fraction components on MODIS 36 bands provide the most accurate LC mapping with 86% accuracy, while DT on MODIS 36 bands principal components leads to less accurate classification (69%).

Land availability and biomass production potential in India

In this paper we have assessed the availability of land and the potential for biomass production in India to meet various demands for biomass, including modern bioenergy. This is estimated by considering the various demands on land and its suitability. The biomass production potential of energy plantations is assessed for different agroecological zones. The total woody biomass production is estimated to be 321 Mt, based on biomass productivity in the range 2 to 17 t/ha/yr for the different agro-ecological zones and considering the conservative estimate of 43 Mha land availability for biomass production. A surplus of 231 Mt of biomass (after meeting the increased demand for fuelwood and timber by the year 2010) is estimated to be available for energy, which has an electricity generation potential of 231 TWh. As a first step, only the feasible physical potential of biomass production is assessed, along with an analysis of barriers. The potential costs and benefits of biomass production strategy are not analysed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Aerosol radiative forcing over land: effect of surface and cloud reflection

It is now clearly understood that atmospheric aerosols have a significant impact on climate due to their important role in modifying the incoming solar and outgoing infrared radiation. The question of whether aerosol cools (negative forcing) or warms (positive forcing) the planet depends on the relative dominance of absorbing aerosols. Recent investigations over the tropical Indian Ocean have shown that, irrespective of the comparatively small percentage contribution in optical depth (similar to11%), soot has an important role in the overall radiative forcing. However, when the amount of absorbing aerosols such as soot are significant, aerosol optical depth and chemical composition are not the only determinants of aerosol climate effects, but the altitude of the aerosol layer and the altitude and type of clouds are also important. In this paper, the aerosol forcing in the presence of clouds and the effect of different surface types (ocean, soil, vegetation, and different combinations of soil and vegetation) are examined based on model simulations, demonstrating that aerosol forcing changes sign from negative (cooling) to positive (warming) when reflection from below (either due to land or clouds) is high.

Contrained linear spectral unmixing technique for regional land cover mapping using MODIS data

Over the last few decades, there has been a significant land cover (LC) change across the globe due to the increasing demand of the burgeoning population and urban sprawl. In order to take account of the change, there is a need for accurate and up- to-date LC maps. Mapping and monitoring of LC in India is being carried out at national level using multi-temporal IRS AWiFS data. Multispectral data such as IKONOS, Landsat- TM/ETM+, IRS-1C/D LISS-III/IV, AWiFS and SPOT-5, etc. have adequate spatial resolution (~ 1m to 56m) for LC mapping to generate 1:50,000 maps. However, for developing countries and those with large geographical extent, seasonal LC mapping is prohibitive with data from commercial sensors of limited spatial coverage. Superspectral data from the MODIS sensor are freely available, have better temporal (8 day composites) and spectral information. MODIS pixels typically contain a mixture of various LC types (due to coarse spatial resolution of 250, 500 and 1000 m), especially in more fragmented landscapes. In this context, linear spectral unmixing would be useful for mapping patchy land covers, such as those that characterise much of the Indian subcontinent. This work evaluates the existing unmixing technique for LC mapping using MODIS data, using end- members that are extracted through Pixel Purity Index (PPI), Scatter plot and N-dimensional visualisation. The abundance maps were generated for agriculture, built up, forest, plantations, waste land/others and water bodies. The assessment of the results using ground truth and a LISS-III classified map shows 86% overall accuracy, suggesting the potential for broad-scale applicability of the technique with superspectral data for natural resource planning and inventory applications.

Influence of land use changes in river basins on diversity and distribution of amphibians

Land-use changes influence local biodiversity directly, and also cumulatively, contribute to regional and global changes in natural systems and quality of life. Consequent to these, direct impacts on the natural resources that support the health and integrity of living beings are evident in recent times. The Western Ghats being one of the global biodiversity hotspots, is reeling under a tremendous pressure from human induced changes in terms of developmental projects like hydel or thermal power plants, big dams, mining activities, unplanned agricultural practices,monoculture plantations, illegal timber logging, etc. This has led to the once contiguous forest habitats to be fragmented in patches, which in turn has led to the shrinkage of original habitat for the wildlife, change in the hydrological regime of the catchment, decreased inflow in streams,human-animal conflicts, etc. Under such circumstances, a proper management practice is called for requiring suitable biological indicators to show the impact of these changes, set priority regions and in developing models for conservation planning. Amphibians are regarded as one of the best biological indicators due to their sensitivity to even the slightest changes in the environment and hence they could be used as surrogates in conservation and management practices. They are the predominating vertebrates with a high degree of endemism (78%) in Western Ghats. The present study is an attempt to bring in the impacts of various land-uses on anuran distribution in three river basins. Sampling was carried out for amphibians during all seasons of 2003-2006 in basins of Sharavathi, Aghanashini and Bedthi. There are as many as 46 species in the region, one of which is new to science and nearly 59% of them are endemic to the Western Ghats. They belong to nine families, Dicroglossidae being represented by 14 species,followed by Rhacophoridae (9 species) and Ranidae (5 species). Species richness is high in Sharavathi river basin, with 36 species, followed by Bedthi 33 and Aghanashini 27. The impact of land-use changes, was investigated in the upper catchment of Sharavathi river basin. Species diversity indices, relative abundance values, percentage endemics gave clear indication of differences in each sub-catchment. Karl Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) was calculated between species richness, endemics, environmental descriptors, land-use classes and fragmentation metrics. Principal component analysis was performed to depict the influence of these variables. Results show that sub-catchments with lesser percentage of forest, low canopy cover, higher amount of agricultural area, low rainfall have low species richness, less endemic species and abundant non-endemic species, whereas endemism, species richness and abundance of endemic species are more in the sub-catchments with high tree density, endemic trees, canopy cover, rainfall and lower amount of agriculture fields. This analysis aided in prioritising regions in the Sharavathi river basin for further conservation measures.