Use of remote sensing and GIS in assessing the impact of Prosopis juliflora proliferation on land use, land cover and diversity of native flora at Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary, India

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It is crucial to accurately quantify land use and land cover (LULC) within a protected area to understand the implications of habitat changes on biodiversity. Today’s remote sensing and GIS technologies greatly facilitate analysis of LULC, especially with regards to tracing changes over space and time. This study uses remote sensing and GIS to examine the impact of climate, herbivore, and anthropogenic pressures including invasive Mesquite Prosopis juliflora on native plant communities at Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary. Classification of satellite images revealed that dry evergreen, mudflat, and water bodies had transformed into open scrub from 1995 to 2018 and the shift in LULC is detected with optimal accuracy (85%). Changes in LULC are largely attributable to a rise in open scrub caused by the growth in P. juliflora from 3 to 6 km2 since 1995. GLM-based regression to examine the influence of climate, herbivores, and anthropogenic pressure including P. juliflora on native flora show native tree density, shrub density, shrub diversity, herb, and grass cover decreasing with P. juliflora cover or density. These findings imply that as the P. juliflora spreads the native plant diversity and density at Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary will continue to decline. P. juliflora is being eradicated in phases through management efforts, however, here we recommend a coordinated effort to curb further expansion in order to reverse ecological decline.