The comparative vegetation cover assessment of the greater Bangalore using high resolution satellite imagery
Journal Title: Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences (JBES) - Year 2013, Vol 3, Issue 8
Abstract
Bangalore is experiencing unprecedented urbanization in recent times due to concentrated developmental activity resulted in the increased population and consequent pressure on infrastructure and natural resources, which ultimately gives rise to plethora of serious challenges like climate change, green house effect and frequent flooding of low lying areas. Urban forests or urban vegetation is an integral part of this urban structure providing a lattice of green in an otherwise artificial landscape. “The value of an urban forest is equal to the net benefits that members of society obtain from it” (McPherson et al. 1997). In the present study vegetation distribution across 8 zones of Bangalore Metro area is assessed by NDVI and TNDVI transformed 2005 Quick Bird imagery. Both NDVI and TNDVI, a biophysical variables clearly unravel the pattern of vegetation distribution across different zones of Bangalore metro. Among the different zones high NDVI value was observed in Byatarayanapur followed by West. The zones in outskirts of the metro area once characterized by thick plantations and forest cover now shows phenomenal decrease in vegetation. The zones in central metro area once famous for parks, gardens and plenty of avenue trees mainly responsible for calling Bangalore as “garden city” is metamorphosized into concrete jungle. Urbanization is happening at a very fast rate and at the cost of agricultural land and plantation in the outskirts of metro, which is described as National Natural Resource Census (NRC) hot spot areas for further studies and monitoring. Urban sprawl is observed as 9% and around 177 km2 of agricultural land has been converted into built up area in the last 5 to 6 years. The Zone-wise assessment of vegetation distribution using high resolution satellite imagery can illustrate how urban vegetation cover and its associated benefits vary across the Bangalore Metro and this data can be used to compare urban vegetation cover estimates among zones.
Authors and Affiliations
Malini A. Shetty, Somashekar R. K.
Keywords
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