Estimating above Ground Tree Biomass of Semi-Arid Bundelkhand Region Using Satellite Data, Regression Modelling and ANN Technique

Remotely sensed satellite imagery can be used to classify and monitor vegetation dynamics (Tucker, 1979). The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) computed from satellite data is a good measure of photosynthetic activity at landscape scales, and can be used to estimate vegetation biomass and Net Primary Production (NPP) (Tucker, 1979; Myneni et al., 1995, Nemani et al., 2003). As in the present environmental condition the climate change has adversely affected the ecosystem and the forest cover, NDVI has an important role to play to track and quantify the change taking place in plant ecosystem process (Myneni et al., 1995, Nemani et al., 2003). Biomass estimation using NDVI is easy to implement, harvesting of trees is not required and also effectively reduce the time and cost required in case of any other estimation process. In this study regression models and ANN (Artificial Neural Network) model were tried to simulate and predict total biomass production from different districts of Bundelkhand region. NDVI values collected from remote sensing images at particular season of the year to characterize above ground biomass of the study area. The performance of the ANN model was compared with several other commonly used linear and nonlinear models and validation was done based on the model’s stability

Dimeric Halo Complexes of Cr(IV)

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Remote Sensing and GIS based approach in Morphometric analysis of Birma River Basin (Central India)

Birma river basin lies between two states of India (Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh). The parameters of Morphometric analysis were measured as Stream Order, Drainage Density, Stream Frequency, Bifurcation Ratio, Elongation Ratio, etc. Digital Elevation Model is downloaded from the USGS website. The results show that the Basin ranges from dendritic to sub-dendritic and is heterogeneous in texture and structurally controlled. The stream order ranges from first order to sixth order and the drainage density and elongation ratio is 1.23 and 0.59 respectively which specified that the basin is elongated in shape. The bifurcation ratio varies from 2.67 to 9.0 indicating that the basin has undulating topography. The analysis is contributed to understand watershed management sites for the conservation of soil and water. Assessment of these parameters ultimately gives information for the arrangement of sustainable water resource development and its management for the local people residing nearby the river.   Keywords: Birma River Basin, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), Geographical Information System (GIS), Morphometric analysis, Remote Sensin

Preparation of a New Oxotetracyano- (pyridine)chromate(IV) Anion

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Identification and Characterization of Pastureland and Other Grazing Resources of Jammu & Kashmir Using GIS and Satellite Remote Sensing Technique

Livestock acquires special importance in mountain farming system from both ecological and socioeconomic point of view. They are an integral part of the farming system and a “bridge’’ connecting two types of land viz., forest and cultivated. In hilly regions, the arable agriculture is not very remunerative; therefore farmers of all categories rear sheep, goats, cattle etc. under sedentary, semi-migratory and migratory systems to supplement family income (Dev et al., 2014). The common property resources (CPR) and degraded pasturelands are the major feed sources. Remotely sensed satellite imagery and Geographic Information System (GIS) are being widely used for the assessment of pasturelands and estimation of forage availability as well as monitoring of the range resources (Singh et al., 2011). Since, the grazing resources are limited and natural grasslands are becoming scarcer, there is a greater need to effectively manage grasslands for optimum forage production and eco-development (Roy and Singh, 2013). Precise information on extent, condition and forage availability is essential for developmental planning. In the present study information on current status of pasturelands in Jammu and Kashmir based on remotely sensed satellite data and GIS/GPS is carried out

Characterization and Mapping of Halophyte Vegetation Using GIS and Remote Sensing Technique in Kachchh Plane of Gujarat, India

One of the pressures of a burgeoning population is need to increase agricultural production through both irrigated agriculture and the development of land that was previously regarded as marginal. About 8.56 m ha land in India is affected by salt. Out of this, about 1.2 m ha land is in Gujarat which is next to Uttar Pradesh (1.295 m ha). Kachchh, the second largest district of the country, has more than 53% of the total geographical area under Ranns (salt-marshy lands). The soil salinity in this region ranges from 3.2 to 32 EC and sodicity from 8.0 to 10.0 pH. The animal husbandry is the major livelihood option of the people of the Banni grassland of this region having an area of about 625 km2. Halophyte grown under the saline ecosystem is the major wild forage source for the animals feed. However, the animals feed mostly on wild forage halophytes grown under the saline ecosystem. Apart from natural salinity, a significant proportion of recently cultivated agricultural land has become saline owing to faulty irrigation practices; this secondary salinization poses direct loss to the crop production. The commercial agriculture now prevalent in the region exploits ground water heavily and encroaches upon grass lands. Heavy grazing pressure on the vegetation including wild halophytes is direct threat to the valuable natural biodiversity of the region. Very meager information on systematic characterization of vegetation in this region is available (Pandya and Sidha, 1987 and GUIDE, 1998). Halophytes have tolerance mechanisms that include ions compartmentalization, and compatible solutes. However, the mechanisms of salt tolerance in these species are not fully understood and not much work is reported in the literature. Halophytes have great potential either for direct agricultural crops uses in saline areas or for the incorporation of their characteristics into existing crop species. They may be useful for grazing or fodder or as ornamental plants and have recently been advocated as a source of oils

Lab-to Land - The success story of betelvine cultivation in Mahoba, Uttar Pradesh

Betel leaf chewing is so common that it is taken for gran ted and most people are oblivious of the problems facing this important segment of plant industry. &nbsp

The weighted independent domination problem: ILP model and algorithmic approaches

This work deals with the so-called weighted independent domination problem, which is an N P -hard combinatorial optimization problem in graphs. In contrast to previous theoretical work from the liter- ature, this paper considers the problem from an algorithmic perspective. The first contribution consists in the development of an integer linear programming model and a heuristic that makes use of this model. Sec- ond, two greedy heuristics are proposed. Finally, the last contribution is a population-based iterated greedy algorithm that takes profit from the better one of the two developed greedy heuristics. The results of the compared algorithmic approaches show that small problem instances based on random graphs are best solved by an efficient integer linear programming solver such as CPLEX. Larger problem instances are best tackled by the population-based iterated greedy algorithm. The experimental evaluation considers random graphs of different sizes, densities, and ways of generating the node and edge weights

The Weighted Independent Domination Problem: ILP Model and Algorithmic Approaches

This work deals with the so-called weighted independent domination problem, which is an $NP$-hard combinatorial optimization problem in graphs. In contrast to previous work, this paper considers the problem from a non-theoretical perspective. The first contribution consists in the development of three integer linear programming models. Second, two greedy heuristics are proposed. Finally, the last contribution is a population-based iterated greedy metaheuristic which is applied in two different ways: (1) the metaheuristic is applied directly to each problem instance, and (2) the metaheuristic is applied at each iteration of a higher-level framework---known as construct, merge, solve \& adapt---to sub-instances of the tackled problem instances. The results of the considered algorithmic approaches show that integer linear programming approaches can only compete with the developed metaheuristics in the context of graphs with up to 100 nodes. When larger graphs are concerned, the application of the populated-based iterated greedy algorithm within the higher-level framework works generally best. The experimental evaluation considers graphs of different types, sizes, densities, and ways of generating the node and edge weights