Mapping of Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks of India A Pilot Project: Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary NRSC Dr. C. Sudhakar Reddy Dr. V.K. Srivastava Dr. S. Sudhakar Dr. M.S.R. Murthy Mr. Shijo Joseph, JRF Mr. Ved Prakash Ola, Project Personnel WII Dr. V.B. Mathur TNFD Sri K. Sridharan Dr. S.K. Srivastava SURVEY OF INDIA December, 2008 Contents Page no. Chapter I – Introduction 1-20 1.1 Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary 3-9 1.2 Topography 10-20 Chapter II -Vegetation type mapping 21-39 2.1 Methodology 21-26 2.2 Results and Discussion 27-39 Chapter III –Forest Crown Density Mapping 40-53 3.1 Methodology 40-41 3.2 Results and Discussion 41-53 Chapter IV –Phytosociological study 54-72 4.1 Methodology 54-57 4.2 Results and Discussion 58-66 4.3 Gradients of Diversity 67-72 CHAPTER V-LAND COVER CHANGE ASSESSMENT 73-82 5.1 Methodology 74-76 5.2 Results and Discussions 77-82 Chapter VI - Conclusions and Recommendations 83-84 References 85-93 List of Figures Figure1.1 Location Map of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary. Figure1.2 Infrastructure Map of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Figure1.3 Administrative Map of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Showing Reserve Forest & Section Figure1.4 Administrative Map of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary showing Range Boundary and Beat Boundary Figure1.5 Elevation map of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Figure1.6 Percent Area Distribution of Elevation in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary. Figure1.7 Slope Map of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Figure1.8 Percent Area Distribution of Slope in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Figure 1.9 Aspect Map of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Figure1.10 Percent Area Distribution of Aspect in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Figure1.11 Drainage Map of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Figure2.1 False Colour Composite Image of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Figure2.2 Vegetation types in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Figure2.3 Forest Vegetation type and Land-Use map of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Figure2.4 Percent Area Distribution of Vegetation type and Land-Use in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Figure2.5 Percent area Distribution of Different forest types in different ranges. Figure 2.6 Forest Type and Land-Use Map of Manampally Range Figure 2.7 Forest Type and Land-Use Map of Manamboly Range Figure 2.8 Forest Type and Land-Use Map of Polachi Range Figure 2.9 Forest Type and Land-Use Map of Udumalaipettai Range Figure 2.10 Forest Type and Land-Use Map of Ulandy Range Figure 2.11 Forest Type and Land-Use Map of Valparai Range Figure 2.12 Forest Type and Land-Use Map of Amaravathi Range Figure3.1 Methodology Flow chart for Forest Type, Density & Bio- Richness Maps Figure3.2. Forest Canopy Density Map of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Figure3.3. Area Distribution of Forest Canopy Density of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Figure 3.4 Area Distribution of Canopy Density in different Ranges under <40% canopy Density and >40 % canopy Density Figure3.5 Area Distribution of different Forest Canopy Density Categories in Different Ranges Figure3.6 Forest Canopy Density and Land-Use Map of Amaravathi Range Figure3.7 Forest Canopy Density and Land-Use Map of Amaravathi Range Figure3.8 Forest Canopy Density and Land-Use Map of Manamboly Range Figure3.9 Forest Canopy Density and Land-Use Map of Polachi Range Figure3.10 Forest Canopy Density and Land-Use Map of Udumalaipettai Range Figure3.11 Forest Canopy Density and Land-Use Map of Ulandy Range Figure3.12 Forest Canopy Density and Land-Use Map of Valparai Range Figure4.1. Phytosociological sampling method Figure4.2.1 Sample Points location in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Figure4.2.2 Sample Points location in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Figure4.3. CCA ordination diagram (Axis 1 by Axis 2) with plots (scattered points) and environmental variables (lines) in Anamalai wildlife sanctuary. Each circle represents partitioning of vegetation communities along environmental gradients. Figure5.1. Flow diagram depicting the details of change detection technique followed in the study Figure5.2. Map showing change areas from 1973 to 2006 in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary, India. List of Tables Table1.1 Range and Beat wise Geographical area of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary. Table1.2 Distribution of Area under different Elevation categories in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Table1.3 Distribution of Area under different Elevation categories in different range of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Table1.4 Elevation Description of different Range of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Table1.5. Area Distribution Slope Categories in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Table1.6. Area Distribution of Slope Categories in different Range of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Table1.7. Slope Description of different Range of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Table1.8. Area Distribution Aspect Categories in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Table1.9. Area Distribution of Aspect Categories in different Range of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Table2.1 Forest types of Indira Gandhi Wildlife sanctuary (Champion and Seth, 1968) Table2.2 Area Statistics of Vegetation cover types in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary (Area in sq.km) Table2.3.1 Range wise area distribution of Vegetation & Land-Use type of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary (Area in sq km) Table2.3.2 Range wise area distribution of Vegetation & Land-Use type of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary (Area in sq km) Table3.1 Area Statistics of Forest Crown density in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Table3.2. Area Distribution of Canopy Density in different Ranges under <40% canopy Density and >40 % canopy Density Table3.3.1 Range wise Forest Crown density distribution Table3.3.2 Range wise Forest Crown density distribution Table4.1 Ecological dominance of top ten species (based on IVI values) in Sanctuary Table4.2 Top 10 dominant species in Dry deciduous forest of Indira Gandhi WLS (Based on IVI values) Table4.3 Top 10 dominant species in Moist deciduous forest of Indira Gandhi WLS (Based on IVI values) Table4.4 Top 10 dominant species in Evergreen forest of Indira Gandhi WLS (Based on IVI values) Table4.5 Top 10 dominant species in Semi-Evergreen forest of Indira Gandhi WLS (Based on IVI values) Table4.6 Top 10 dominant species in Shola forest of Indira Gandhi WLS (Based on IVI values) Table4.7 Top 10 dominant species in Scrub forest of Indira Gandhi WLS (Based on IVI values) Table4.8. Five Dominant Species in different Forest Type of Amaravathi Range Table4.9. Five Dominant Species in different Forest Type of Manampally Range Table4.10. Five Dominant Species in different Forest Type of Polachi Range Table4.11 Five Dominant Species in different Forest Type of Udumalaipettai Range Table4.12. Five Dominant Species in different Forest Type of Ulandy Range Table4.13. Five Dominant Species in different Forest Type of Valaprai Range Table4.14 Population structure of tree species along girth class frequencies Table4.15 Population structure of tree species across Height class intervals Table4.16 Endemic species of Study area Table4.17 Canonical correspondence analysis of 169 species in 206 plots in Anamalai wildlife sanctuary. Matrix presents intraset correlation between environmental variables and first three axes and weighted correlations between environmental variables. Table4.18 Overall regression model of species richness from environmental variables in Anamalai wildlife sanctuary (R2 – 0.50, F – 39.82, df1 – 5, df2 – 199 and p - 2.98E-28). Table5.1 Land use/Land cover changes (area in hectare) in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary from 1973 to 2006 List of Annexure: Annexure1 Area Distribution of Forest Canopy Density in all Range of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary. Annexure2 Area Distribution of Forest Vegetation type & Land-Use in all Range of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary. Annexure3 Area Distribution of Aspect in all Range of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary. Annexure4 Area Distribution of Elevation in all Range of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary. Annexure5 Area Distribution of Slope in all Range of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary. Annexure6 Beat and Section wise area distribution of vegetation type and landuse & land cover in all Range of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary. Annexure7 Beat and Section Wise Area Distribution of Forest Canopy Density in all Range of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Annexure8 Maps of Status of main Faunal Species of Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary. Annexure9 Phytosociological Sample Point Location in Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Acknowledgement The project team is grateful to Dr. V. Jayaraman, Director, NRSC, Dr. P.S. Roy, Deputy Director (RS & GIS Application Area) and Dr. R.S. Dwivedi, Group Director (LRG), NRSC for all the guidance and encouragement. We thank Director, WII for encouragement and Tamil Nadu Forest Department for cooperation in field studies. Thanks due to Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi for financial assistance. We are grateful to Mr. G. Rajasekhar and Mr. Girish S. Pujar, Scientists, NRSC for their technical cooperation and continual support. Chapter - I INTRODUCTION India is endowed with a great variety of biological communities and is ranked among twelve mega diversity countries in the world. But India’s green mantle along with its heritage of biodiversity is in grave trouble today due to population explosion, encroachment to forest land, shifting cultivation practices and degradation caused by overgrazing, illicit felling, lopping, for fuel and folder, forest fire, etc. The formulation of Protected Area is a regular practice for the conservation of biodiversity from these threats. But many times Protected Area has not been fulfil its objectives as there is no base line data about major habitats and its species composition, ecological significance and threatening factors in the area. Wherever little data exits, it is not in a standardized form to address the management issues. The lack of baseline data is hampering the conservation and management of the protected area significantly.