Publications

Chellamani, Prabakaran; Singh, Chandra Prakash; Panigrahy, Sushma (2014). Assessment of the health status of Indian mangrove ecosystems using multi temporal remote sensing data. TROPICAL ECOLOGY, 55(2), 245-253.

Abstract
Mangroves are highly productive intertidal ecosystems in tropical and subtropical regions. Despite the established importance of mangroves to the coastal environment, degradation of this system continues mainly due to anthropogenic pressure. Over the past few decades, satellite remote sensing has been used to map and monitor changes of mangrove forests worldwide. This study was aimed at characterizing the health status of the Indian mangrove on the basis of multiyear, multi-season, remote sensing data. Normalized Difference Vegetation index (NDVI) from Systeme Pour I Observation de la Terre - Vegetation (SPOT-VGT) coinciding with the stress period (March - May) for one decade (1999 - 2008) was subjected to maximum value compositing (MVC). This was used to develop a four-category health index status based on threshold values. Results showed that around 38 % and 27 % of tibial mangrove in India belonged to very-healthy and healthy categories, respectively. In general the health index was lower in western coast mangroves compared to east coast. The health index was highest for the island mangrove systems (Andaman and Nicobar), and lowest along the Gujarat coast.

DOI:

ISSN:
0564-3295