Energy & Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560012, INDIA.
*Corresponding author: cestvr@ces.iisc.ernet.in

Introduction

Land cover (LC) is defined as the features that are present on the earth‘s surface. Land use refers to the human induced changes for agricultural, industrial, residential or recreational purposes (Ramachandra and Bharath, 2012). Land cover changes refer to conversion and modification of vegetation, changes in biodiversity, soil quality, runoff, erosion, sedimentation and land productivity (Xiubin, 1996). Land use has been changing ever since human‘s first began to manage their environment. However, the changes that have taken place over the last 50 years have been especially important and intense as society is becoming increasingly urbanized, while natural ecosystems become deteriorated (Martinez et al., 2009). LULC changes are driven by the interaction of ecological, geographical, economic, and social factors (Zang and Huang, 2006) in the process of landscape development (Bürgi et al., 2004; Hersperger and Burgi, 2009). The interaction between biophysical and human dimensions in space and time is the main driver of Land use change. The possible impacts of land use/cover change on environment have inspired researchers to conduct research in order to understand main causes and effects of land use change (Veldkamp and Verburg, 2004).
Land use activities whether converting natural landscapes for human use or changing management practices on human dominated lands have transformed a large proportion of the Earths land surface. Due to clearing of tropical forests, practicing subsistence agriculture, increasing farmland production and expanding urban centres, the world‘s landscape is changing in inescapable ways through human actions (Foley et al., 2005). Although land-use practices vary greatly across the world, their final outcome is generally the same, the achievement of natural resources for immediate human needs, often at the expense of degrading environmental conditions.
Land use changes eliminate species locally and decline natural habitats and ecosystem functioning, affecting thus, biodiversity and provision services of ecosystem. Global biodiversity is changing at an unprecedented rate as a complex response to several human induced changes in the global environment and LULC. Land use land cover (LULC) changes are the major sources of habitat loss, ecosystem alterations and biodiversity changes in forest dominated landscapes. Habitat loss due to change in LULC dynamics is usually regarded as one of the most important factors causing the global biodiversity crisis (Setturu and Ramachandra, 2012). Human actions are altering the terrestrial environment at unprecedented rates, magnitudes, and spatial scales. Land- cover change resulting from human land uses represents a major source and a major element of global environmental change (Turner et al., 1994, Ramachandra and Bharath, 2012). LULC change also has a significant effect on the global climate change which may include increase in mean temperature in the tropics and intensification of Indian summer monsoon. This alteration can be expected to expand montane evergreen forests into grasslands, producing a shift in grassland biome (Menon and Bawa, 1997).
Land-cover and land-use (LCLU) change analyses and projection provides a tool to assess ecosystem change and its environmental implications at various temporal and spatial scale (Lambin, 1997). Land use and Land cover (LULC) data provides useful information regarding developmental, environmental and resource planning applications at regional as well as global scale (Ramachandra et al., 2012). LULC dynamics are analysed through changes in the state of an object or phenomenon by observing it at different times. Accurate and timely detection of change in natural resources provides the basic understanding of the relationships and interactions between human and natural phenomena. Satellite Remote Sensing data, which are a useful source of information and provides timely and complete coverage of any specific area, have proven useful in assessing the natural resources and monitoring the land use or land cover changes (Satyanarayana et al., 2001). The spectral response of vegetation indices will detects changes in pixel-level vegetation conditions (Leckie et al., 2005; Wulder et al., 2005).
2. OBJECTIVES
The main aim of our present study is to understand the landscape ecology of the study area through
I. Quantification of LULC
II. Assessing LULC changes during 1979-2013
III. Assessing the level of fragmentations in forest ecosystems
IV. Investigation of the agents of forest fragmentation