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Assessment of historical forest cover loss and fragmentation in Asian elephant ranges in India

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Abstract

India is home of the largest remaining population of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus L.) in the South and Southeast Asia. The forest loss and fragmentation is the main threat to the long-term survival of Asian elephants. In the present study, we assessed forest loss and fragmentation in the major elephant ranging provinces in India, viz., north-eastern, north-western, central, and southern since the 1930s. We quantified forest cover changes by generating and analyzing forest cover maps of 1930, 1975, and 2013, whereas fragmentation of contiguous forest areas was quantified by applying landscape metrics on the temporal forest cover maps. A total of 21.49% of the original forest cover was lost from 1930 to 1975, while another 3.19% forest cover was lost from 1975 to 2013 in the elephant ranges in India. The maximum forest loss occurred in the southern range (13,084 km2) followed by north-eastern (10,188 km2), central (5614 km2), and north-western (4030 km2) elephant ranges in the past eight decades. The forests in the central range were the most fragmented followed by southern, north-eastern, and north-western elephant ranges. The forest fragmentation in the southern range occurred at the fastest rate than central, north-eastern, and north-western ranges. The core forest areas shrunk by 39.6% from 1930 to 2013. The causative factors of forest change and situation of elephant-human conflict have been discussed. Study outcomes would be helpful in planning effective conservation strategies for Asian elephants in India.

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Acknowledgments

Authors acknowledge forest cover data support from the National Information System for Climate and Environment Studies (NICES), National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad. Authors thank the Director of Indian Institute of Remote Sensing and the Director of National Remote Sensing Centre for their encouragement and support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Indian Space Research Organisation, 4-Kalidas Road, Dehradun, 248001, India

    Hitendra Padalia, Subrata Nandy, Sarnam Singh & A. Senthil Kumar

  2. International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, Office Block-C, NASC Complex DPS Marg, Pusa, New Delhi, 110012, India

    Surajit Ghosh

  3. National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Balanagar, Hyderabad, 500625, India

    C. Sudhakar Reddy

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  1. Hitendra Padalia
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  2. Surajit Ghosh
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Correspondence to Hitendra Padalia.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Terrestrial and Ocean Dynamics: India Perspective

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Padalia, H., Ghosh, S., Reddy, C.S. et al. Assessment of historical forest cover loss and fragmentation in Asian elephant ranges in India. Environ Monit Assess 191 (Suppl 3), 802 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7696-5

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