Effect of vegetation structure on above ground biomass in tropical deciduous forests of Central India

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the above-ground biomass (AGB) of tropical deciduous forests in Central India using field-based techniques and spaceborne quad-pol ALOS PALSAR-2 L-band and dual-pol Sentinel 1A C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Field sampling based on 73 forested grids exhibited a diverse forest composition in the Satpura Tiger Reserve (STR) with a total of 54 tree species of which 31.48% species were IUCN Red-Listed. The forests were highly diverse (H′=3.22) with a low concentration of dominance (CD = 0.06) and a quite high species evenness (E = 0.81). The sensitivity and correlation between field-based AGB and SAR backscatter in STR were highest in cross-polarization due to its higher sensitivity to the vegetation structure in both L- and C-band SAR, where L-VH based AGB estimates were found more accurate (RMSE:5.17%). The study provided vital information for setting up strategies for biodiversity conservation, enhancing forest productivity, and restoring wildlife habitats.

Keywords:

• ALOS PALSAR-2
• Sentinel 1A/1B
• Biomass
• Satpura Tiger Reserve
• Phytosociological compositions
• Field inventory

Acknowledgment

The authors sincerely thank the Editor and anonymous reviewers for reviewing the manuscript and providing critical comments to improve the quality. The authors like to thank JAXA for providing the ALOS PALSAR-2, and ESA for providing free access to Sentinel 1A datasets. The authors are thankful to Arun Dayanandan for his inputs while finalizing the manuscript.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Authors' contribution

PL, AK, PS, AD conceived the idea and designed methodology; AK, PS, PS acquired funding from the agency; PL, AK, GK, AD collected data for analysis. PL, AK, PS led the writing of the manuscript. All authors contributed critically to the drafts and gave final approval for final publication.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The research was funded by ISRO under NISAR Mission (Project number EPSA/3.1.1/2017/L&S Band SAR (NISAR)/ECO-17 dated 13 Nov. 2017).