S. Jayakumar

Pondicherry University · Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences

Srivilliputhur Wildlife Sanctuary holds significant value being a part of Western Ghats, which remains unexplored in terms of vegetation. The current study is the first quantitative assess- ment of tree distribution along an elevation gradient combined with environmental variables. Sampling was conducted from December 2020 to April 2021 in six elev...

The study provides information on the tree diversity, stand structure, and regeneration pattern of the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary. Tree diversity and its relation to habitat have been explored using 88 plots with dimensions of 50 × 20 m. A survey of 8.8 ha of the study area was conducted during the fieldwork. Plants with a circumference of 30 cm...

Butterflies represent one of the most popular and readily identifiable insect taxa. The annual migration of Appias spp. (Albatross butterflies) is common in the Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary (AWS), India. During migration, the butterflies moving along the stream course often settle down in masses across a mud-puddling site. This study sheds light on th...

Forest biomass plays a crucial role in the global carbon cycle as a significant contributor derived from both soil and trees. This study focuses on investigating tree carbon stock (TCS) and estimating aboveground biomass (AGB) based on elevation within the Srivilliputhur Wildlife Sanctuary forest, while also exploring the various factors that influ...

In coastal ecosystems, microplastics (<5 mm plastic particles) are a common occurrence, presenting a pressing global concern, especially on beaches where increased human activity and inadequate waste management exacerbate the issue of plastic pollution. This research investigates the abundance and characteristics of microplastics at six tourist bea...

Tropical mountain forests in Eastern Ghats provide a unique opportunity to relate environmental drivers to plant community structure along elevation gradient. We aimed to investigate the tree diversity, composition and stand structure along elevation gradient and drivers facilitating species distribution across Mahendragiri Hill Forest (MHF) in Eas...

Urbanization is gaining pace worldwide and is the most elemental cause of global land transformation. This necessitates land use land cover change to be analyzed on various spatial and temporal scales to understand its potential impacts on the environment. This work focuses on the urbanization in the area of Gandhinagar district, Gujarat, India whi...

Wetlands are a ubiquitous ecosystem, found in all regions and climatic conditions across the globe. Kanwar wetland is one of the largest freshwater, inland wetlands in the South Asian subcontinent, and was proposed for the Ramsar site during the early 1990s due to its unique habitat characteristics. Unfortunately, it has not yet been included in th...

The prevalence of microplastics along the coastal habitats has become a global concern owing to the increased input of plastic debris from multiple sources. The present study is the first of its kind to examine the prevalence and distribution of microplastics in Odisha coast. The average microplastic abundance in the nine stations along Odisha coas...

Background & objectives: Mosquitoes are vectors of several important vector-borne diseases (VBDs) like malaria, dengue, chikungunya, Japanese encephalitis (JE) and lymphatic filariasis (LF). Globally, these VBDs are of major public health concern including India. The information on vector mosquitoes from Thiruvarur district in Tamil Nadu state rem...

Sustainability pillars—economic, environment, and social, are all under intimidated scenarios for a long while the Covid-19 crisis adds another possible reason. As per the WHO report, the total confirmed cases of Covid-19 in India are 2027074 and 18902735 cases globally as of 7 August, 2020. There is no question of the repercussions pandemic Corvid...

In the present study, we assessed the extent of microplastic pollution in the road dust of Chennai, the fifth largest metropolitan city in India. This study is the first of its kind to be reported from India. Sixteen different locations were selected from which road dust samples were collected. The average microplastic abundance was estimated to be...

The availability of the coarse to moderate resolution no-cost remote sensing data and advances in image processing algorithms have exponentially increased the usage of geo-spatial technology in the last few decades. The latest Sentinel-2 Multispectral Imager (MSI) provides the surface reflectance data in VNIR and SWIR ranges since 2015 at higher sp...

It is about the effect of lockdown during Covid-19 in terms of the environment.

Herein, we report the prevalence of microplastics in the South Andaman beaches, India. The average microplastic abundance of the eight stations covered along the South Andaman beach was found to be 414.35 ± 87.4 particles per kilogram of beach sediment. Among the stations sampled, Kodiyaghat was found with highest microplastic abundance of 973.3 ±...

This study was carried out to estimate the water quality index of Kanwar wetland, which is one of the largest natural, inland wetlands in the Gangetic plain and supports water demands of a larger population. We have identified seventeen water parameters and monitored them in three stretches, i.e., upper, middle and lower, of the wetland for 3 years...

Microplastics ingested by two bivalve species Perna viridis and Meretrix meretrix collected from three estuaries viz. Ariyankuppam, Panithittu, and Chunnambar in Pondicherry, India was analysed for the first time in this research. Nile Red dye was used for microplastic detection. A survey of 50 local families was conducted to determine the frequenc...

The changes in natural ecosystems provide opportunity to increase vegetation carbon sink capacity and thereby contribute to mitigation of climate change impacts. The Indian tropics and the large ecological variation within the country afford the advantage of diverse niches and offer opportunities to reveal the role of biotic factors at different le...

Six elevation zones viz., MHF 1 to MHF 6 (Mahendragiri Hill Forest) starting from 229 to > 1505 m asl were assessed to estimate the biomass and carbon stock in tropical dry deciduous forests of Mahendragiri Hills, Eastern Ghats. It aims at establishing a relationship among stem density, biomass, and carbon stock along the elevation gradient and dis...

The earth is warming continuously at an alarming rate and the reason is rising amount of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) mostly by human activity.  For example industrialization and modern civilisation have raised the atmospheric carbon dioxide level from 280 ppm to more than 400 ppm at present compared to last 150 years.  In addition many forests ma...

Abstract Background The effect of forest fire on soil is complex and relatively less understood than its above ground effect. Understanding the effect of fire on forest soils can allow improving management of valuable forest ecosystems as adequate and proper information is very important for efficient management. We have studied the recovery of soi...

This study is an attempt to evaluate the relationships between vegetation and modern pollen rain in Siaha District, Southern Mizoram, India, as a contribution to palaeoecological research. A set of 21 pollen substrates (surface soil and moss pollsters) were obtained from the vicinity of Pala Lake, the biggest natural lake in Mizoram. Two thick spid...

This study describes the concentration of heavy metals (Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd) in water, soil and the major crop grains of wheat, maize and rice. The concentrations (mg/L) of Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd in irrigating water were recorded in the range of 0.09–0.15, 1.14–1.49, 1.21–1.86, 6.11–8.14, 1.71–1.99 and 0.03–0.05, respectively, while in the...

The role of forest fires in the soil dynamics and global carbon cycle has not been comprehensively studied in tropical forests as the effects of fire on tropical forest soils can be extremely variable. This study was aimed to understand how repeated fires affect physical and chemical properties of soil in a tropical dry deciduous forest and alter s...

Desertification is a global land degradation problem faced both in the developed and developing countries alike. Kolli hill is one of the hills of the Eastern Ghats of India, currently undergoing conspicuous land degradation to such an extent, that it has already begun to witness an altered forest stand. Hence, the main goal of this study is to ide...

Introduction: The study was conducted in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, in the Western Ghats to understand the effect of a single fire event on tree diversity and regeneration status. Four forest patches were selected which were unburned, 2-year-old burn, 5-year-old burn, and 15-year-old burn. Three 0.1 ha square plots were laid randomly in all four patc...

Recurrent fires in forested areas are a leading disturbance that can strongly affect the vegetation dynamics, structure and regeneration. In this study, we examined tree species regeneration in response to fire in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve. Fire frequency map was prepared using Landsat 5, 7 and 8 satellite images for the period between 1999 and...

The accumulation of heavy metals in sediments of water bodies are of serious concern due to toxic and non-biodegradable nature. In this study, sediment core samples of Kanwarjheel wildlife sanctuary were analysed to understand the distribution of heavy metals. The average concentration of heavy metals was found in a sequence of Fe > Mn > Cr > Zn >...

Tree species inventory was carried out in five forest types of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR). The forest type was divided into homogenous vegetation strata (HVS) based on the altitude, temperature, precipitation and forest types. A total of 8 ha area was sampled using 0.1 ha (20m by 50m) plot and all tree species >=1cm girth at breast height (...

Environmental gradients are the driving forces that shape species density, community composition, stand structure and diversity. Distribution of plants in Nilgiri hill is the result of topographic variations and climatic differences. This study was conducted in Singara range of The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, which lies between the altitudes of 900...

Introduction: What conservation issue, problem or question does your study address? Fire can be friend or foe depending on fire frequency, fire intensity and pattern of fuel consumption. As a natural phenomenon, it is linked to the dynamics of many plant communities. Many species of trees can withstand and thrive from the periodic low intensity bur...

The study was carried out (i) to identify the changes in the soil organic carbon content during the different phases of slash-and-burn cultivation: i.e., before slash-and-burn (phase I), after slash-and-burn (phase II) and after harvest (phase III) and, ii) to determine the status of soil organic carbon content in the primary undisturbed forest (si...

Plant, animal and microbial residues in all stages of decomposition contribute to soil organic carbon (SOC). Measurement of SOC will not only help us to assess the productivity and the sustainable fertility of the soil but it will also give us an idea about the potentials of the soil for sequestering carbon from the atmosphere or the emission poten...

Kanwar Lake, a Bird Sanctuary, is one of the largest natural oxbow lakes in the Indian subcontinent. It is surrounded by agricultural lands and settlements. The wastes of agricultural farms and human settlements are directly discarded into the lake, which affects the water quality of the lake. This work was carried out to monitor the water quality...

The damage caused by cyclones is immense and may cause micro scale climatic variations at affected areas. The present study was carried out to assess the impact on vegetation and land surface area temperature of the cyclone Thane which hit the East Coast of India in the year 2011-2012. The landfall region of Cyclone Thane was chosen as the study ar...

India has one of the largest assemblages of tropical biodiversity, with its unique floristic composition of endemic species. However, current forest cover assessment is performed via satellite-based forest surveys, which have many limitations. The present study, which was performed in the Eastern Ghats, analysed the satellite-based inventory provid...

Biplots for PCA Analysis. (TIF)

Semi- variogram model of Eastern Ghats FSQI distribution using ordinary kriging based on 408 samples collected from the Eastern Ghats. (TIF)

Kanwar Lake, a Bird Sanctuary, is one of the largest natural oxbow lakes in the Indian subcontinent. It is surrounded by agricultural lands and settlements. The wastes of agricultural farms and human settlements are directly discarded into the lake, which affects the water quality of the lake. This work was carried out to monitor the water quality...

Mosquito borne diseases, malaria and dengue are found in Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir State. The information available on mosquito fauna occurring in Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir dates back to 1983. Towards generating information on the current mosquito species diversity in the region, mosquito faunistic surveys were conducted from 20...

Puducherry is one of India’s Union Territories and is located along the Eastern coast of India. Since it is administered by the Central Government, taxes are lower and amenities better than in the surrounding areas of the State of Tamil Nadu and with a high level of tourism, Puducherry is subjected to urban sprawl. Most of Puducherry’s urban areas...

It has been found in the last 3–4 decades that different ecosystems in the tropical regions contributed maximum trace gases (CH4 and N2O) to atmosphere. Terrestrial ecosystems in tropics, sub-tropics and in temperate regions are the well-known sources and sinks of important GHGs (green house gases). Nowadays, developing countries of Asia Pacific re...

This study was aimed to evaluate the spatial and temporal patterns of forest fire between 1999 and 2014 using remote sensing and GIS in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Western Ghats. Remote Sensing and GIS are very effective tools in detecting active fire, mapping burned area, analyzing fire risk and preparing improved management plans. We used Landsat TM...

Fire is an essential process in many ecosystems to maintain species composition, biodiversity and structure. It also causes considerable damage to ecosystem and considered to be a potential hazard with physical, biological, ecological and environmental consequences. The majority of fires occurring in India are in tropical dry deciduous forests, whi...

Soil plays an important role in the global carbon cycle. It acts as both sink and source of carbon in the atmosphere depending on the land use system. The objective of the present study is to estimate the amount of carbon that can be sequestered in the forest soils of Ukhrul district in Manipur, Northeast India. The samples were collected from the...

This present study assesses the sensitive zones and the forest density class prone to degradation using remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), Southern Western Ghats (India). For assessing the vulnerability of degradation on different vegetation density, the drivers responsible for...

Forest fires have adverse ecological, economic, and social impacts. In this light, the present research aimed, first, to construct a fire risk model using a GIS-based multi-criteria analysis and second, to derive a forest fire risk modeling strategy that alleviates the problem of inconsistency in the assigning of scores and weights to forest fire c...

Forest fire is very common to all the ecosystems of the world. It affects both vegetation and soil. It is also helpful in maintaining diversity and stability of ecosystems. Effect of forest fire and prescribed fire on forest soil is very complex. It affects soil organic matter, macro and micro-nutrients, physical properties of soil like texture, co...

The vegetation of Kolli Hill, has been classified for its forest cover types using landsat TM FCCs of two season namely summer (March) and winter (November). The FCCs of two seasons were interpreted visually based on the standard interpretation elements. Extensive field checks were done and corrections were made in both the maps wherever found nece...

Stand age information in forestry generally is collected by means of expensive, labour-intensive and time-consuming field surveys that are also often inconsistent in their analysis results. As an alternative, this research provides a solution to the problem of loblolly pine plantation stand age estimation, using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images,...

Floristic inventory and diversity assessments are necessary to understand the present diversity status and conservation of forest biodiversity. Although, inventory and diversity studies are taken up at different levels all over the world by various research groups with available resources and to fill the gap in the biodiversity knowledge, there are...

Floristic inventory and diversity studies are conducted using various sampling methods. The present study compared floristic diversity of an evergreen forest of Kolli Hill based on three sampling methods, viz. (a) ad hoc (AH) vegetation survey, (b) stratified random plot (SRP) and (c) bigger plot (BP). The evergreen forest area (2889.5 ha) was clas...

This paper presents two different types of supervised classifiers such as support vector machine (SVM) and spectral angle mapper (SAM). The Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI) high resolution aerial image was classified with the above two classifier. The image was classified into eight land use /land cover classes. Accuracy assessment and...

The primary deciduous forests in the Eastern Ghats (EG) of Tamil Nadu (TN) India have undergone many changes owing to various need-based forest managements, such as timber extraction for industry, railway sleepers, charcoal, and forest clearance for hydroelectric projects and agriculture, during preindependence and postindependence periods (i.e., f...

The present study was aimed to estimate the urban sprawl in a historical city of India using series of satellite data between 1968 and 2005(37 years) and GIS. The total area of the Tiruchirappalli city was 1991.96 ha during 1968 and it was expanded into 4335.98 ha(117.67%) during 2005. The average growth rate per year was 63.35 ha. This 117.67% gro...

The need for a carbon databank is addressed in this article in the context of mitigating climatic changes. As a pilot study, carbon stock in a natural forest area of Kolli hills, part of the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India has been estimated using geospatial technology. The total biomass, both above and below ground, is calculated and the total...

Information on forest type and cover density status of the present and past on large scale (1:50,000) is very much needed for conservation of any forest region. Such large-scale maps are not available for the Eastern Ghats (EG) of Tamil Nadu. This study deals with the preparation of forest type and cover density map of EG of Tamil Nadu during 2003...

Forest cover density studies using high resolution satellite data and object oriented classification are limited in India. This article focuses on the potential use of QuickBird satellite data and object oriented classification in forest density mapping. In this study, the high-resolution satellite data was classified based on NDVI/pixel based and...

We present an analysis of urban development and growth with reconnaissance satellite photographs of Columbus metropolitan area acquired by the Corona program in 1965. A two-dimensional polynomial linear transformation was used to rectify the photos against United State Geological Survey (USGS) Large-scale Digital Line Graph (DLG) data georeferenced...

Joint Forest Management(JFM) is a concept of developing partnerships between fringe forest user groups and the Forest Department(FD) on the basis of mutual trust and jointly defined roles and responsibilities with regard to forest protection and development. In India, JFM was started during 1992 and it was implemented in many states. However succes...

In the present study an attempt has been made to map land use/land cover and change detection analysis in Kolli hill, part of Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, using remote sensing and GIS. About 467 ha increase has been observed in single crop category and about 434 ha decrease has been observed in land with or without scrub category. Majority of the a...

The present study was carried out to identify the present (1999) and past status (1990) of forest in the Kolli hills, the Eastern Ghats and forest regions which are prone to degradation in the near future using remote sensing and GIS. About 25 ha loss has been observed in dry evergreen forest and about 35 and 1306 ha loss is observed in the semi-ev...

This article deals mainly with two objectives viz, 1) the potentiality of very high-resolution (VHR) multi-spectral and pan chromatic QuickBird satellite data in resources mapping over moderate resolution satellite data (IRS LISS III) and 2) the advantages of using object oriented classification method of eCognition software in land use and land co...

This study was carried out in part of Tamil Nadu, India. Also, Landsat ETM+ image and field sampling data were acquired. The field data were basal area, number of trees and number of species. Using the data set, this study performed a three steps processing, (1) Image classification (2) extracting the vegetation indices(NDVI, Tasseled cap brightnes...

Pallikaranai wetland is a fresh water swamp, which is one among few wetland ecosystems ava ilable in India. This wetland area is being ravaged by various factors, spoiling its ecological con dition. The water is polluted by untreated sewage and industrial effluents. Garbage dumping and encroachment in the form of building construction also pose thr...