Monitoring and predicting regional land use and land cover changes in an estuarine landscape of India

A multi-layer perceptron-Markov chain based LULC change analysis and prediction using remote sensing data in Prayagraj district, India

Land use land cover (LULC) mapping and temporal observations are indispensable drivers for sustainable development. This research showed the growth trends and land use transition for the Prayagraj district in the last three decades. Supervised classification of Landsat images was performed on 5-year temporal intervals using a maximum likelihood classifier. All satellite images were organized into six major LULC feature classes viz agriculture/open land, barren land, built-up, forest, sand, and water. The overall accuracy of LULC classification was achieved by more than 89% in all seven temporal points. Furthermore, the accuracy of the classified maps was estimated through area-based error matrix. The Land Change Modeler tool of TerrSet 2020 software was used to analyze the transition of classes and to incorporate the multi-layer perceptron-Markov chain (MLP-MC) technique. The transition potentials were included in MLP-MC with the help of sensitive explanatory variables and significant transitions of classes. Furthermore, these transition potentials and the Markov chain transition matrix were used to predict the future LULC dynamics and vulnerability. The change analysis revealed that a significant portion of the agriculture/open land gradually decreased and got converted to built-up land. The results depicted that agriculture/open land was reduced by 8.03% in the last three decades while the built-up region was grown by 199.61%. Forest area was continuously decreasing while the sand area increased due to river meandering. Overall, more than 75% of accuracy was achieved in MLP. The prediction model was first validated with observed data, and then the LULC scenario of 2035 and 2050 was simulated. LULC of 2050 showed that the built-up area would likely reach 13.90% of district area whereas the forest area would remain only 0.79%. The prediction model has given the output in the form of future LULC map along with projected potential transition maps. This would be useful for sustainable urban planning to deal with the alarming rate of built-up growth and agriculture/open land shrinkage.

Prediction and monitoring of LULC shift using cellular automata-artificial neural network in Jumar watershed of Ranchi District, Jharkhand

Jumar watershed of Ranchi district is agrarian in nature. The unplanned and exponentially growing urban sprawl has become one of the probable threats in achieving sustainable development goals (SDG-15). The purpose of this research study is to monitor the urban sprawl in Jumar watershed within three decades i.e. from the year 1990 to 2021. Land use land cover (LULC) change has been monitored using satellite data from LANDSAT (4, 5 and 8). Various indices are calculated like normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalised difference built-up index (NDBI), normalised difference water index (NDWI) and built-up index (BUI) to monitor LULC change in the area. For prediction of urban sprawl, cellular automata and artificial neural network (CA-ANN) with GIS application technique is used. The model is validated by using Kappa coefficient. The prediction results showed increase in built-up area by 8.23 sq. km in the next decade. The built-up and barren land together increase up to 42.85 sq. km by 2030 and 34.61 sq. km in 2021. The NDVI for 3-decade period showed significant decrease in the healthy vegetation and increase in sparse vegetation. The NDBI showed a slight increase in urban area but massive increase in uncultivated and barren land. NDWI showed a decrease in area of the surface water. The LULC studies showed a major shift from healthy vegetation to agriculture and then to barren land. To assess the impact of urbanisation on water quality, water samples are taken seasonally from J1to J11 sampling locations and are analysed as per APHA procedure. The sites are classified as urban, semi urban and rural area as per their location. The water quality index (WQI) varied between 42.14 to 61.42 during pre-monsoon, 62.20 to 68.7995 during monsoon and 43.48 to 60.12 during post-monsoon. The quality of water is found poor in all seasons at all sampling sites. The water is found highly turbid and alkaline throughout the year. Overall, it can be concluded that the water needs to be pre-treated for drinking purposes throughout the year.

Johnson, K. Sivakumar. An overview of the fish diversity and their threats in the Gowthami-Godavari Estuary in Andhra Pradesh, India

The fish diversity of different estuarine habitats of the Gowthami-Godavari River was studied from 2014 to 2017. We recorded 231 species of finfishes belonging to 27 orders, 81 families, and 167 genera. Perciformes was the most speciose order, followed by Carangiformes and Clupeiformes. Of the 231 species, one is an Endangered species (Silonia childreni), three are Vulnerable (Tenualosa toli, Cirrhinus cirrhosis, and Wallago attu), three are Near Threatened, and 11 are Data Deficient species. We also recorded five exotic species from the study area, of which Oreochromis mossambicus was the most dominant. The major threats, including potential impacts of river regulation and climate change on the estuarine habitats of Gowthami-Godavari, are also discussed.