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

Abstract

Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) changes in Uttar Kannada district during 1979 to 2013 were analysed using temporal remote sensing data with geographic information system (GIS). Main objective of the current study is to i) quantify the LULC, ii) assess LULC changes during 1979-2013, iii) assess the level of fragmentations in forest ecosystems iv) investigations of the agents of forest fragmentation. Three remotely sensed data sets, Landsat MSS (1979), Landsat TM (1999) and Landsat ETM+ (2013) i.e. for a time period of 34 years were used for the study. The ancillary data in the form of topographic maps and Google Earth were used to create the base maps of the study area. The land use of the study area was classified in to ten land use categories which include Evergreen forest, Moist deciduous forest, Dry deciduous forest, Scrub forest/Grassland, Forest plantations, Built up, Water, Crop land, Horticultural plantations and Open land. If the present rates of forest encroachment are allowed to continue, endemic species of flora and fauna will become endangered in Uttar Kannada. The land use analysis reveal a decline in evergreen forests from 57.15% (1979) to 32.52% (2013) with an increase of crop land (10.03% to 14.12%) and built up (0.94% to 3.04%). Land use change analysis showed the spurt in rate of decline of the evergreen to semi evergreen forests from 1.50% (1979-1999) to 1.88% (1999-2013).

Keywords: Land use land cover (LULC), remote sensing, LULC changes, fragmentation analysis, forest encroachment