Nilgiri District Research Articles

Leveraging artificial neural networks for robust landslide susceptibility mapping: A geospatial modeling approach in the ecologically sensitive Nilgiri District, Tamil Nadu

Landslides pose a significant threat to the lives and livelihoods of marginalised communities residing in rural areas and the delicate ecological balance of the environment. Implementing advanced technologies is crucial for improving hazard risk assessment and enhancing preparedness measures in regions characterised by diverse topography and complex geological formations. Geospatial applications and modelling techniques have emerged as indispensable in mitigating landslide risks, particularly in environmentally sensitive areas. This study presents a comprehensive approach to landslide susceptibility mapping in the Nilgiri District of Tamil Nadu, India, leveraging the power of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and integrating multi-dimensional geospatial datasets. Integrating ANN-based modelling and geospatial techniques offers significant advantages in terms of statistical robustness, reproducibility, and the ability to analyse the complex interplay of factors influencing landslide hazards quantitatively. The methodology involves rigorous pre-processing and integrating spatial data, including landslide event occurrences as the dependent variable and ten independent parameters influencing landslide susceptibility. These parameters encompass elevation, slope aspect, slope degree, distance to roads, land use patterns, geomorphology, lithology, drainage density, lineament density, and rainfall distribution. Feature extraction and selection techniques are employed to effectively model the complex interactions between these factors and landslide occurrences. This process identifies the most relevant variables influencing landslide susceptibility, enhancing the model's predictive capabilities. The state-of-the-art ANNs are trained using historical landslide occurrence data and the selected influencing factors, enabling the development of a robust and accurate landslide susceptibility model. The performance of the developed model is rigorously evaluated using a comprehensive suite of metrics, including accuracy, precision, and the Area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve. Preliminary results indicate that the ANN-based landslide susceptibility model outperforms traditional zonation methods, demonstrating higher accuracy and reliability in predicting landslide-prone areas. The resulting Landslide Susceptibility Map (LSM) categorises the study area into five distinct hazard zones, ranging from very high (664.1 ​km2), high (598.9 ​km2), moderate (639.7 ​km2), low (478.9 ​km2) and to very low (170.9 ​km2). Notably, the eastern and central regions of the district emerge as particularly vulnerable to landslide occurrences. The study's findings have far-reaching implications for disaster risk reduction efforts, land-use planning, and sustainable development strategies in the ecologically sensitive Nilgiri District and beyond.

Notes on some Rare Plants Collected from Nilgiri District, South India

No Abstract.

Cultivation and Marketing Challenges Faced by Vegetable Growers-a Study with Special Reference to Nilgiri's District

Cultivation and Marketing Challenges Faced by Vegetable Growers-a Study with Special Reference to Nilgiri's District

Paternal Alcohol Consumption and Childhood Malnutrition: A Community-based Participatory Case-control Study among Adivasis in Rural South India.

Childhood malnutrition in India remains among the highest in the world. Adult alcohol consumption and severe malnutrition have increased among indigenous people in South India. However, the association between them is poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate this association, which could help design better intervention strategies. This case-control observational study was conducted in the Nilgiri district in South India. Cases included children aged 1-5 years with moderate malnutrition. Controls were defined as children in the same age group with normal weight-for-age. A questionnaire was used to collect data on demographics, socioeconomic status (SES), and parental education. The WHO Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) questionnaire was used to estimate parental alcohol use. Health-care workers collected data from within the community. The baseline demographics of the children in the control (n = 250) and case groups (n = 177) were similar. Paternal age and AUDIT scores were not different in the two groups. SES was lower in the malnourished group, while maternal education among cases was significantly lower. Maternal and paternal education were associated with childhood malnutrition (odds ratio [OR]: 0.728 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.583-0.903] and OR: 0.753 [95% CI: 0.589-0.957], respectively). After adjustment for covariates, paternal alcohol use was associated with a higher risk of malnutrition (OR: 1.56 [95% CI: 1.00-2.47]), which SES partly mediated. Paternal alcohol consumption is associated with childhood malnutrition, partially mediated by lower SES. Furthermore, lower SES appeared to be strongly associated with paternal alcohol consumption.

A STUDY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF TRIBES IN THE NILGIRI DISTRICT, TAMIL NADU

Tamil Nadu, one of the major states of southern zone in India, consist of 36 important groups live in different district. According to the census of 2011, the scheduled Tribe population in Tamil Nadu constitute 1.10%of the total population. The Tribal Topography in Tamil Nadu broadly divided into three categories viz., 1) Tribal concentration areas 2) Dispersed tribal area and 3) Primitive tribal areas. According to the Ministry of tribal Affairs, Nigiri district had the highest percentage of tribal population area in Tamil Nadu came under the primitive tribal areas because of the presence of six primitive tribal groups (PTGs) viz., Todas, Kotas, Kurumbas, Paniyas, Irulas and Kattunayakans. Each of these tribes maintain unique cultural traits. All these tribes coexisted locally in a loose caste like community organisation. In our study facilitates to understand the social development of the six primitive tribal groups in Nilgiri district and provide an overall pictures of development initiatives by the government of India and Tamil Nadu Government for the upliftment of these tribal people and also focus on the status of theses tribal how they empowered themselves through self-help groups and other organisations. The study reveals that a number development programme, schemes, policies have been introducing to improve the well-being of tribal people.

Mapping invasive alien plants through citizen science: shortlisting species of concern for the Nilgiris

Species introduced from elsewhere are known as alien species. They may be introduced as crop plants or ornamental plants, or for timber. A small proportion of introduced species can become invasive thereby spreading at the cost of native species and habitats, negatively affecting biodiversity, food security, and human wellbeing. Despite the growing recognition of the threat of invasive alien species, we still lack information about the distribution and abundance of species widely accepted to be invasive. To address this information gap regarding invasive alien species distributions, we initiated a pilot citizen science effort to create an atlas of invasive plants in the Moyar-Bhavani landscape of the Nilgiri District. We aimed, through this pilot effort, to develop and test user-friendly mapping protocols and develop an interface for citizen scientists to use. Ultimately, we hope to create a model that can be scaled up to large conservation landscapes, such as the Western Ghats, the central Indian Highlands, and the Himalaya.

Survey on the ethnomedicinal plants used by the communities around buliyar, the Nilgiri district, Tamilnadu, India

An ethno medicinal survey was carried out to gather information about medicinal plants utilized by Irulas and Kurumba tribal people in the Burliyar taluk. About 50 medicinal plants species belonging to 34 families used by the tribal people for the treatment of Asthma, Burns, Diarrhea, Fertility, Fever, Jaundice, Kidney stone, Malaria, Snake bites, Wounds etc. has been identified and collected. The most representative families are Asteraceae and Solanaceae with 5 species each. The plants were found to be used in different forms such as juice, extracts, paste, powder, infusion. These ethno medicinal plants were used to treat ailments like cold, cough, headache, stomach ache, dysentery, skin diseases, poison bites, cuts and wounds and diabetes.

On some Zooplanktons recorded from Ooty, Nilgiri District of Tamil Nadu

On some Zooplanktons recorded from Ooty, Nilgiri District of Tamil Nadu

Work, Life and Protest of Indico Tea Estate Workers

Nilgiri tea is a mysterious, extremely pungent, fragrant, and flavoured tea grown in the southern portion of Southern India's Western Ghats. It is grown in the hills of Tamil Nadu's Nilgiri district, but there are numerous other tea-growing districts in South India, such as Munnar and Central Travancore in Kerala. In Nilgiri, many tea estates cultivate tea leaves with their employees. Most of the people in Nilgiri work as employees and workers in tea estates and indico factories. They pick tea daily, and the workers are happy in the estate. This study will determine how satisfied they are. This is a small attempt to know the welfare of the estate employees.

Zonation of Landslide Hazards Based on Frequency Ratio Modeling at Coonoor and Kothagiri Taluks of Nilgiri District, Tamil Nadu, India

A frequency ratio model is developed within the framework of a Geographic Information System (GIS) to map landslide hazards in a mountainous environment. The Nilgiri Hills (Mountains) of Tamil Nadu are prone to landslides; these landslides are typically the result of the structural failure of thick laterite soils that have been saturated by heavy rains during the monsoon season. The GIS based analysis in the present work incorporates the frequency ratio values from the existing landslides. The landslide inventory of paleoscars was located by a collection of existing historical reports. Detailed field surveys have been carried out in the study area. In the observation, 118 landslide locations were identified and mapped by GIS; out of that, 83 (70 %) locations were randomly selected for the training data set and the remaining 35 (30 %) cases were used for the model validation purposes. For spatial modeling, the landslide triggering parameters include active-passive slope, concave-plain-convex slope, drainage density, dissected-undissected slope, geology, geomorphology, lineament density, lineament frequency, lineament intersection density, land use / land cover, rainfall, regolith cover, shallow-moderate-steep slope, soil and water level for landslide hazard zonation. This model has been used to spatially classify the study area into three zones viz; high, moderate and low landslide hazard zones. The frequency ratio model was validated with the existing landslide location data using R-index method. The validation of the results showed that the values is 1115.23 in R-index as high hazard zone when R-index increases with the level of susceptibility. The obtained results will provide a basis for planning, risk reduction strategies and various developmental activities in the Nilgiri area.

Extent of Utilization of Various Government Tribal Development Schemes by Primitive Tribes Living in Biodiversity Zone of Nilgiri District in Tamil Nadu

Biodiversity hotspots have set up to protect at least 10 per cent of world's ecological regions in order to conserve biodiversity and safeguard many facilities provided by natural ecosystems. Biosphere Reserves are representative areas of natural and cultural landscapes that span a large area of agricultural, marine, or coastal ecosystems, or a combination of them, as well as representative bio-geographic domains or kingdoms. The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve has richness and diversity, to protect it, the district has been declared as “Organic district” on July 2019. It is also the home to a wide range of human cultural diversity and especially the primitive and vulnerable tribes live in these areas. They are the designated tribal settlers identified by the government and these have their own religious believes, culture and traditions which is extremely different from others customs. They are called as "Adivasi" or "Aboriginals". So as to improve their life style and lead a better life like others, central government along with state government had bought several development schemes and plans under Ministry of tribal affairs. The Tribal Development Plan (TDP) was developed to proactively solve tribal issues and provide culturally compatible solutions, specifically considering indigenous people. The main objective of this study is the adoption level of government tribal development schemes and plans among the primitive tribes living in the biodiversity zone of Nilgiri biosphere. Thus the vulnerable and primitive tribal societies of like Toda, Kota, Kurumba, Paniya, Kattu naickan and Irular of Nilgiri district have been chosen for the investigation with the sample size of 120, in which 20 from each tribes have been chosen. Pre-tested and well-structured interview schedule have been made and thereby undergone survey. Thus it provided an overall picture about the level of adoption about various government tribal development schemes for their betterment and upliftment in among Nilgiri tribes.

Statistical and machine intelligence based model for landslide susceptibility mapping of Nilgiri district in India

The Nilgiri district is the mountainous landscape which is frequently facing landslides that leads to severe economic and human loss. So, it is most important to inspecting and exploring the degree or magnitude of landslide hazard in Nilgiri district. The current research presents a detailed mapping on vulnerability of landslide for the future with the assist of frequency ratio (FR) and binary logistic regression (LR) by the support of ArcGIS and SPSS modeler finally assessed the performance and accuracy of model has carried out with the aid of Area under the curve (AUC) for the receiver operating characteristics (ROC). For this study ten important conditioning factors has been used, they are: Lithology, NDVI, Rainfall, Lineament density, Lineament buffer, Slope, Soil, Depth of the soil, Aspect and Land use Land cover. The most significant part of the research has made an attempt to use statistical package (SPSS modeler) for geospatial analysis particularly landslide study. The major finding of this study is that FR is good as compared to LR when using training dataset whereas LR is performed as good as compared to FR when using testing dataset. The resultant Landslide susceptibility map (LSM) from the FR and LR using SPSS modeler is significant units not dependent of governmental boundaries, this can be also advantageous to planners or law executer and policymakers to mitigate landslide.

Revisiting the taxonomy of Strobilanthes lawsonii and S. pushpangadanii (Acanthaceae), two endemic taxa of Western Ghats, India

Strobilanthes lawsonii was described by Gamble based on a collection made from Sispara Ghat of Nilgiri District, Tamil Nadu. Later researchers reported its distribution in Kerala, and S. gamblei and S. pushpangadanii, two endemic species of the Western Ghats, were synonymised with S. lawsonii during the genus revision in southern India in 2006. During a recent expedition to Muthikulam forest of Palakkad, Kerala the authors collected typical S. lawsonii. After comparing the new collections with S. gamblei and S. pushpangadanii, it was found that both taxa are distinct from S. lawsonii, with the most notable morphological differences being partially fused corolla lobes and exserted stamens. A detailed comparison of the three taxa is provided here, along with color photographs and a taxonomic key for easy species identification.

Socio-Cultural Aspects of Kurumbas in the Nilgiri District – A Study

Socio-Cultural Aspects of Kurumbas in the Nilgiri District – A Study

Impact of Rainfall on landslides of Nilgiri District, Tamil Nadu, India

Impact of Rainfall on landslides of Nilgiri District, Tamil Nadu, India

Invasive Alien Species of Asteraceae and their Economic Importance in Nilgiri District, Tamil Nadu, India

Invasive Alien Species of Asteraceae and their Economic Importance in Nilgiri District, Tamil Nadu, India

Documentation of Soil Related Environmental Issues and It’s Contributing Factors: A Study among the Hilly Tribes of the Nilgiri District

India is vulnerable to several environmental threats. An ever growing population is over straining the natural resources and put the natural environment under severe threat. Tribes are the first victims of environmental degradation and disproportionately affect their life because those issues pollute the most essential resources they depend on. Hence, the present study was taken up to document the soil related issues occurring due to the changes in the natural environment and to identify the probable causes of factors responsible for each issue. For this study, the Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu was selected considering the highest proportion of the tribal population in the district. Ex-post facto research design was used. Totally five major issues have been documented viz., loss of soil fertility, loss of soil beneficial microbial activity, subsoil compactness, the incidence of frequent soil erosion, unsuitability of the soil to raise a profitable crop. For the aboveidentified soil related issues, responsible factors were also identified and ranked by employing Garrett ranking method.

Environmental Issues and the Resulting Cultural Changes – A Study in the Hilly Tribal Ecosystem

Tribal communities have deep connection to environment because they have a greater dependency on natural resources. When the natural environment is altered, it disproportionately affects the tribal life. Overburdened with the environmental issues, they have problem of change in culture and further facing lot of health hazards. Hence, the present study was taken up to document the cultural changes occurring due to the changes in natural environment and to identify the probable causes of factors responsible for each issue. For documentation of the issues, the Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu was selected considering the highest proportion of tribal population in the district. Ex-post facto research design was used. Totally there were seven major cultural changes have been identified viz., changes in the regular food habits, changes in the health management practices, changes in the dressing pattern, remarkable changes in the celebration of family festivals and ceremonies, changes in the housing pattern, disappearance of traditional utensils and changes in the water use tradition. For the above identified cultural changes, probable responsible factors were also identified and ranked by employing Garrett ranking method.

A new record of the family Isonychiidae (Insecta: Ephemeroptera) from the Western Ghats, India with a description of new species.

A new species belonging to the subgenus Isonychia, of the genus Isonychia Eaton, 1871, is described based on larvae and imagoes collected from Moyar River, Nilgiri District, Tamil Nadu, India. The imagoes of I. moyarensis n. sp. can be distinguished from other described Oriental species of Isonychia (Isonychia) by the combination of characters: (i) forewing with rusty brown maculae in the costal, subcostal, and median areas; (ii) femur and tibia brown, fore leg pale, apices of tarsal segments brownish; (iii) males with distal angles of penes rounded, without serrations; (iv) second segment of gonostylus uniformly convex; and (v) sterna of tenth abdominal segment in female deeply cleft. Isonychia (Isonychia) moyarensis n. sp. can be distinguished in the larval stage from other known Oriental species by the following combination of characters: (i) abdominal terga II-IX with median dark brown maculae progressively larger with dark brown slanting streaks in lateral margins; (ii) trachea of abdominal gills I-VII unbranched; (iii) posterolateral projections on abdominal segments I-VII blunt and progressively longer than those of segments VIII-IX, sharp and distinct; and (iv) abdominal terga X pale yellow in anterior ⅓, and dark brown in the posterior ⅔. A key to the known larvae of Oriental species of Isonychia is also provided.

Seasonal prevalence and habitat of Radix auricularia in an area with outbreaks of Fasciola gigantica in the Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu

Seasonal prevalence and habitat of <i>Radix auricularia</i> in an area with outbreaks of <i>Fasciola gigantica</i> in the Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu